WORLD briefs

HARARE. The Zimbabwe Supreme Court on Monday dismissed the prosecution of leading rights activist Jestina Mukoko over an alleged plot to overthrow President Mugabe, saying the state had violated her rights. She was accused of recruiting people for terror training in neighboring Botswana, a claim rejected by Botswana. Mukoko was seized from her home in December 2008 and detained at an unknown place. Her lawyers claim she was severely tortured.

BERLIN. German Chancellor Angela Merkel signaled on Monday she would resist pressure for radical reforms from her likely new coalition partners, the pro-business Free Democrats, and stick to a path of gradual change. Merkel told ZDF television she wanted the new government to be in office by Nov. 9, the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

STARA BOLESLAV.Pope Benedict, ending a trip to the highly secular nation of Czech Republic, said on Monday the fall of communists who tried to erase religion was proof that God cannot be excluded from public life. Making his first papal visit as the country marks 20 years since the Velvet Revolution ended four decades of communist rule, Benedict addressed a crowd of around 50,000 mainly young people.

ROME. Italy's opposition newspapers criticized PM Silvio Berlusconi on Monday for again calling US President Barack Obama "suntanned" even though he caused a political storm when he first said it last year. Berlusconi said: "I have to bring you some greetings, greetings from a man, what is his name, what is his name -- just a minute it was someone with a tan -- Barack Obama."

CAIRO. Al-Qaida's deputy leader on Monday seized upon President Barack Obama's failure to bring about a freeze in Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank and called him a "fraud" in a new audio message. Ayman al-Zawahri's 28-minute audio message was mainly a eulogy for slain Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud, but he also took the opportunity to slam NATO member states operating in Afghanistan, which he criticized for keeping troops there.