BEIRUT

Infighting weakens council leading Syrian opposition

Syria’s main opposition council is crumbling under the weight of infighting and divisions over issues that cut to the heart of the revolution, including accusations that the movement is becoming as autocratic as the regime it wants to drive out.

On Thursday, Syrian National Council leader Burhan Ghalioun, who was recently re-elected for a third three-month term, said he was ready to step down once a replacement is found.

The council has said it would rotate the presidency every three months, so Ghalioun’s repeated appointments rankled some who wanted a new face.

THE HAGUE, Netherlands

Mladic trial postponed, possibly for months

An apparent clerical error prompted judges to postpone the long-awaited war crimes trial of former Bosnian Serb military leader Ratko Mladic on Thursday, possibly for months.

The delay cast a shadow over one of the court’s biggest cases — and over the reputation of the court itself, where most prominent trials have proceeded at a snail’s pace, frustrating many victims.

It also highlighted problems faced by international tribunals in prosecuting sweeping indictments covering allegations of atrocities spanning years in countries far from the courts where defendants face justice.

“It is fraught with delay because of the volume of documentation and scope of alleged crimes,” Richard Dicker, the director of Human Rights Watch’s international justice program, said Thursday.

— From news service reports