Today's other stories in brief
UN blames 'network' for Hariri killing
UNITED NATIONS - A network of individuals was responsible for the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik al-Hariri in 2005 and was linked to other political murders in Lebanon, UN investigators said yesterday.
The finding came in the latest report by a UN commission set up to investigate the Hariri killing and related cases, which was distributed to the UN Security Council yesterday.
"The commission can now confirm, on the basis of available evidence, that a network of individuals acted in concert to carry out the assassination of ... Hariri and that this criminal network - the 'Hariri network' - or parts thereof are linked to some of the other cases," the report said. - (Reuters)
Chad pardons aid workers
N'DJAMENA - Chad's higher judicial council, which advises president Idriss Deby on legal matters, gave him the go-ahead yesterday to pardon six French aid workers jailed for eight years for abducting children, an official said.
The six members of the Zoe's Ark charity were sentenced to eight years' hard labour by Chad last year for trying to kidnap 103 African children and take them to Europe without permission from the authorities.
They were allowed to serve their prison sentences in France . - (Reuters)
North Korea fires missiles
SEOUL - North Korea test-fired several short-range missiles yesterday, South Korea said, in what analysts saw as a show of anger at Washington and the new conservative government in Seoul.
The launch comes a day after the North expelled South Korean officials from a joint industrial complex north of the border. - (Reuters)
China rules out punishing monks
BEIJING - China will not punish a group of Tibetan monks for disrupting a government-organised foreign media tour of Lhasa and voicing support for the Dalai Lama, a senior official said in a bid to allay fears of repercussions.
Baema Chilain, vice-chairman of the Chinese-controlled Tibet Autonomous Region, also said "separatists" were planning to disrupt the Olympic torch relay in Tibet. - (Reuters)
Mozzarella cheese recalled
ROME - Italy ordered a recall yesterday of mozzarella cheese potentially contaminated with cancer-causing dioxin, as a widening health scare tainted the reputation of one of its best-known culinary products.
Italy's health ministry said it was withdrawing products from 25 companies in Campania region, where Italy's best buffalo mozzarella is produced.
France briefly prohibited sales of some Italian mozzarella but revoked the ban hours later after winning Rome's assurances that none of the suspect cheese was exported there. - (Reuters)