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LIBREVILLE — A police sting brought down a ring of grave robbers suspected of selling human skulls to makers of traditional medicines and amulets, officials said Wednesday.

Eight Gabonese suspects were arrested last week in connection with the sale of nine human skulls and femur bone, said Col. Alphonse Ngo'o, head of judicial police in the west-central African nation.

Police started searching for the traffickers after a number of families in the capital, Libreville, complained that their relatives' graves had been dug up or disturbed, Ngo'o said. He declined to say how the eight men were identified.

The alleged ringleader, Jean Martin Moussavou, told local television reporters that the group had been selling skulls to the makers of traditional medicines and fetishes since 2004.

ROME — Don't chow, bella! At least not on the steps of Roman monuments.

City Hall is banning all those enjoying a Roman holiday this summer from snacking near the sights in Rome's historical center, with fines up to $80.

Officials say they want to preserve artistic treasures and decorum in a city that has millions of visitors every year.

The ordinance also bans the homeless from setting up makeshift beds, and it cracks down on drunks, litterbugs and nighttime revelers loitering in central areas.

It says that unless the situation is "kept under control," misbehaving visitors will "irreparably damage the preservation of historical and art areas, and monuments and the possibility to enjoy them."

The ban, passed last Thursday, will stay in effect until the end of October.

PARIS — The case started quietly, when a Muslim woman who sheathes herself in a head-to-toe veil was denied French citizenship because she had not assimilated enough into French society. France's highest body upheld the decision, and politicians across the spectrum agreed it was the right move.

A few dissenting voices, though, are now questioning whether the decision pushed France's secularist values too far.

On June 27, France's highest administrative body, the Council of State, ruled that the woman, identified only as Faiza X, had "adopted a radical practice of her religion incompatible with the essential values of the French community, notably with the principle of equality of the sexes, and therefore she does not fulfill the conditions of assimilation" listed in the country's Civil Code as a requirement for gaining French citizenship.

But critics accuse the French justice system of breeding fear and intolerance of Islam under the guise of upholding secularism.

PREAH VIHEAR, Cambodia — Cambodia and Thailand have agreed to meet to avert a clash over a disputed temple site, a Cambodian minister said Wednesday, as hundreds of soldiers from both countries faced off in "disputed border territory."

A spokesman for the Thai Foreign Ministry could not be reached to confirm the planned meeting.

Cambodian Information Minister Khieu Kanharith said Prime Minister Hun Sen and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej, had "a cordial and amicable phone conversation" and that delegates, led by their defense ministers, would meet Monday in Thailand to defuse tensions over competing claims to land surrounding the historic Preah Vihear Temple.

The temple was given United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization World Heritage Site status last week, providing new fodder to the long-standing conflict between the two sides.

As tensions rose, Cambodia accused Thai troops of crossing the border Tuesday — a charge Thailand has publicly denied. The border between the two countries near the temple has never been demarcated.

BEIJING — Responding to a fresh wave of unrest as China gears up to host the Olympics next month, the Communist leadership has told local leaders to be on alert to public grievances and find ways to resolve them.

The order is the most recent in a series of calls reflecting the government's apparent concern over rising social inequality, rampant corruption and the weak legal system.

Communist Party officials at the county level have been told to "keep track of key public complaint cases until they are solved," the English-language China Daily newspaper said Wednesday, citing earlier reports in Chinese state media.

"The unprecedented move . . . shows the central leadership is paying more attention to public complaints," the state-run paper said.

MEXICO CITY — Tropical Storm Fausto formed off the Mexican resort city of Acapulco on Wednesday, while Elida strengthened to a Category 2 hurricane far away from Baja California's coast.

Neither storm was expected to threaten land.

Fausto was moving west away from land at 16 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami. It was about 385 miles south of Acapulco, with winds reaching 40 mph. Forecasters predict Fausto will strengthen today and then begin to lose steam as it heads toward cooler waters.

Meanwhile, Hurricane Elida reached its peak intensity, with winds of 105 mph. Located 655 miles southwest of the tip of Baja California, the hurricane was moving farther out to sea.

In the Atlantic, the long-lasting Tropical Storm Bertha was headed out over open ocean and away from the U.S. mainland after battering Bermuda.

It formed on July 3.

ANKARA — Turkey's military said 11 Kurdish rebels have been killed in clashes in the country's southeast.

The toll raises the number of rebels killed in clashes in the past six days to 33.

A statement on the military's Web site Tuesday said the 11 were killed in an ongoing operation in Hakkari province, near the border with Iraq.

On Monday, the military had reported 22 rebels killed in separate fighting in Sirnak province.