WORLD IN BRIEF : THE NETHERLANDS : Irish Nationals Held Blameless in Killings

A Dutch appeals court overturned the murder conviction of an Irish national and upheld the acquittal of three others accused of killing two Australians during a wave of IRA attacks in Europe. The court said there was no evidence to prove that Gerard Harte, 27; Donna Maguire, 24; Sean Hick, 30, and Paul Hughes, 27, carried out or aided the attack that took the lives of vacationing lawyers Nick Spanos and Stephen Melrose in May, 1990. The court ruled after simultaneously hearing a prosecution request to overturn a lower court acquittal of Maguire, Hick and Hughes, and an appeal by Harte against an 18-year jail sentence imposed on him.