A round-up of other news in brief
Turkey may drop case against writer
ANKARA - Turkey's justice minister Cemil Cicek hinted yesterday that a case against novelist Orhan Pamuk, charged with insulting Turkish identity, may be dismissed.
Pamuk is charged under Article 301 of the revised penal code for saying in a Swiss newspaper interview that no one dared discuss the alleged massacre of one million Armenians 90 years ago and the deaths of 30,000 Kurds in the past two decades. - (Reuters)
Terror suspects arrested in Spain
MADRID - Spanish police arrested 15 people yesterday suspected of recruiting people for Iraq's insurgency, including possible suicide attacks. Officials said the arrests broke up a cell in close contact with al-Qaeda and terror leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Interior minister José Antonio Alonso said the cell had two people ready to be sent to Iraq to wage "holy war". - (AP)
Illegal immigrants drown off coast
NOUADHIBOU - A boat carrying Africans illegally trying to reach Spain's Canary Islands capsized off Mauritania's coast, killing at least four and leaving more than two dozen missing and presumed dead, officials said yesterday.
Rescue workers saved 14 people from Saturday's wreck, said Madine Ba, the official in charge of maritime affairs in the city of Nouadhibou. - (AP)
Tributes paid to Heath's chancellor
LONDON - Tributes were paid yesterday to Lord Barber of Wentbridge, chancellor of the exchequer in Edward Heath's 1970s government, who has died aged 85. Lord Barber - formerly Anthony Barber - became chancellor after his predecessor Iain Macleod died suddenly, six weeks after the 1970 general election. - (PA)
Slovak cleared of Nazi atrocities
MUNICH - A German court acquitted an 88-year-old Slovak yesterday of a 1945 massacre after what may be Europe's last major trial for Nazi atrocities during the second World War.
Ladislav Niznansky was charged with ordering the shooting of 146 civilians in Slovakia in January 1945 and the execution of 18 Jews. - (Reuters)
Miami plane crash leaves six dead
MIAMI - A seaplane crashed and sank in Miami's main shipping channel yesterday, killing at least six people, the US Coast Guard said.
The seaplane, which flies between Miami and the Bahamas, crashed just off the southern tip of Miami Beach after taking off with 14 passengers and two crew on board, Coast Guard petty officer James Judge said. - (Reuters)
Inquiry clears former Czech PM
PRAGUE - Czech police have ended their investigation of former prime minister Stanislav Gross, who resigned earlier this year amid allegations of wrongdoing in the purchase of an apartment.
"Police halted the investigation on the basis that there is no suspicion of a crime being committed," Prague 5 district attorney Julius Lachnitt said. - (Reuters)
Indictment of Pinochet upheld
SANTIAGO - A Chilean appeals court yesterday upheld the indictment of Gen Augusto Pinochet in the disappearance of three dissidents in the early years of his 1973-90 dictatorship.
In all, Gen Pinochet had been indicted in nine cases stemming from the 1975 offensive known as Operation Colombo, which resulted in the killing and disappearance of 119 dissidents.
Gen Pinochet's regime had claimed the dissidents were killed in clashes between rival opposition groups. - (Reuters)
Oil pipeline thieves killed
LAGOS - At least 10 oil pipeline thieves died trying to escape arrest in Nigeria's southern delta, police said yesterday.
Security forces shot some of the thieves, who had tapped into a pipeline to siphon off oil, while others drowned after jumping into the nearby River Ethiope on Saturday, police said. - (Reuters)
Six to face trial for paintings theft
OSLO - Six people will stand trial in Oslo in February accused of stealing The Scream and Madonna even though the masterpieces by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch are still missing.
The paintings were stolen in Oslo on August 22nd last year. - (Reuters)