The Roman Catholic hierarchy in Ireland gave its followers permission yesterday to vote in favor of a government referendum amending abortion laws to permit the practice only if the woman's life was in danger.

Opponents of abortion in this predominantly Catholic land of 3.8 million are being urged by some of their leaders to back the amendment because it would exclude the threat of suicide as a sufficient reason for a woman to receive an abortion.

But some anti-abortion leaders still vehemently oppose the change, as do most of those in favor of greater abortion rights - and campaigners firmly rooted on both sides of the abortion debate vowed to mobilize supporters to defeat the long-postponed amendment.

Meeting at the western Ireland religious shrine of Knock, Ireland's Catholic bishops gave a grudging blessing to the referendum, saying they believe it "is essentially an anti-abortion measure."

"Catholic voters should feel free in conscience to support this measure, even if it is viewed as less than might have been desired," they said.

The March 6 referendum seeks to resolve differences between Ireland's 1983 constitutional ban on all abortions and a 1992 Supreme Court ruling. The court ruled that abortion services should be legalized in Ireland for cases involving women whose pregnancies were threatening their own lives. The court specifically included cases of threatened suicide.

A man charged with killing a police informant in an alleged plot to steal an anti-aging hormone was arrested as he returned from London, authorities said yesterday.

Christopher Andrews was captured at Sky Harbor International Airport on Wednesday, said Sharon Wachter, a spokeswoman for the Yavapai County Sheriff's Department.

Wachter said she didn't know why Andrews came back to Phoenix.

Andrews is one of three men charged in the death of Konstantin Simberg, whose body was found in a remote area of Yavapai County on Dec. 16.

Simberg had been serving as an informant on what police say was a scheme to steal a shipment of 6,000 vials of the human growth hormone Saizen, worth about $1 million wholesale and triple that on the black market.

Saizen can help slow the effects of aging and is sometimes sold illegally for use by athletes.

Simberg's last telephone conversation with a detective was cut off with a scream Dec. 14.

Dennis Tsoukanov has pleaded innocent to murder and kidnapping charges in the death. The third man, Mikhail Drachev, has disappeared.

Police are also investigating whether two other men were involved in the slaying.

Jan Brewer resigned her seat on the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors yesterday and announced her campaign for the Republican nomination for secretary of state.

Flanked by family and friends during a news conference at the state capitol, Brewer said she plans to focus her efforts on protecting voting rights, increasing voter participation, making it easier for Arizonans in the military to vote and protecting consumers.

"Arizonans deserve to have their votes counted accurately," Brewer said.

Brewer was first elected to the Board of Supervisors in 1996. She also served 14 years in the State Legislature. She was a representative from 1983 to 1986 and a senator from 1987 to 1996.

In both cases, Brewer faced turbulent budgets. She was in the Legislature the last time the state had to make midyear budget cuts and joined the Board of Supervisors when Maricopa County faced a grim financial outlook.

Brewer took credit for helping to turn the county's financial condition around. Last week, Syracuse University and Governing Magazine's Government Performance Project cited Maricopa County as one of the two most effective county governments in the nation.

Brewer has served as a member of the Governor's Military Task Force since 1997 and was a member of the Arizona Criminal Justice Commission from 1997 to 2000.

She is married to Dr. John Brewer. The couple has three sons.

Sen. Chris Cummiskey, D-Phoenix, is the only other person to formally declare himself a candidate for the office.