A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Zeta-Jones seeks medical treatment
LOS ANGELES – Actor Catherine Zeta-Jones has sought treatment for bipolar disorder after dealing with the stress of her husband, Michael Douglas’s, illness, her representative said yesterday.
“After dealing with the stress of the past year, Catherine made the decision to check in to a mental health facility for a brief stay to treat her Bipolar II Disorder,” the actress’s publicist, Cece Yorke, said in a statement.
“She’s feeling great and looking forward to starting work this week on her two upcoming films,” the statement said.
It was not immediately clear when Zeta-Jones was first diagnosed with bipolar disorder. – (Reuters)
Vote will mean early end to Berlusconi trial
ROME – Italy’s lower house of parliament voted yesterday to cut the length of some criminal trials, approving a measure that is likely to end prime minister Silvio Berlusconi’s trial for bribing his lawyer David Mills.
Amid boos and shouts from the opposition benches, the lower house voted by 314 to 296 to pass the Bill, which cuts the maximum length of trial processes for those who do not have prior convictions.
The measure would cut eight months from the Mills trial, one of a series of cases facing Mr Berlusconi, effectively bringing it to an end in the summer rather than at the start of 2012.
Mr Berlusconi is accused of paying British lawyer David Mills a $600,000 bribe to give false testimony about his business dealings. He denies the charge but a verdict is now unlikely before the statute of limitations ends the trial. Opponents have protested outside parliament for several days and the centre-left opposition inside has deployed every available parliamentary tactic to delay the result. – (Reuters)