WASHINGTON — A federal judge ruled yesterday that the manslaughter case against five former Blackwater Worldwide security guards accused of spraying innocent Iraqis with machine-gun fire can continue.

U.S. District Judge Ricardo Urbina denied motions to dismiss the case against the men accused in a September 2007 shooting that left 17 Iraqis dead and another 20 wounded.

The five argued that they are not subject to U.S. civilian criminal laws because they were working under the State Department. A legal loophole says only Defense Department contractors can be prosecuted in U.S. courts for crimes committed overseas.

JAPAN FINANCE MINISTER RESIGNS

TOKYO — Japan's finance minister resigned in disgrace yesterday after slurring his speech and nodding off during the G-7 summit in Rome last weekend.

Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa denied he was drunk and blamed his behavior at a press conference in Italy on cold medicine and jet lag, but friends and foes alike weren't buying his excuse.

It was the latest blow to Prime Minister Taro Aso's beleaguered government.

BIG OIL SPILL DRIFTS TOWARD IRELAND

LONDON — Irish authorities said yesterday they are monitoring a major oil spill drifting toward the Irish coast — the largest spill in waters around Ireland in a decade.

The Irish Marine Department said the oil slick was discovered near where a Russian aircraft carrier was refueling between western Britain and the southern coast of Ireland.

Officials said it was too early to predict how much of the spill, thought to be around 500 tons, will come ashore.

CROC KILLED BOY, POLICE CONFIRM

CANBERRA, Australia — Police confirmed that a boy who vanished from an Australian river edge was attacked and eaten by a crocodile.

Remains of the 5-year-old were found in the stomach of a 14-foot male crocodile trapped in the flooded Daintree River — an international attraction for ecotourists — near where the boy had vanished on Feb. 8, police said yesterday.

The croc, examined via nonlethal surgery, will be sent to a crocodile farm or zoo, and not released into the wild.