WORLD IN BRIEF : GERMANY : Two Convicted for Attacks on Refugees

A court in the eastern German seaport of Rostock handed down the first convictions of German rightists involved in attacks against refugee centers the past three weeks. Prosecutor Martin Slotty said the government wanted speedy trials to show its “firm will deal rigorously with violence.” The district court convicted two youths of disturbing the peace. One--described as a skinhead from Dresden--was sentenced to nine months in prison, and the other was given a year’s probation. The youths, tried as juveniles, were not identified by age or name.