Today's other stories in brief
Judge urges settlement in Potter case
NEW YORK- The judge overseeing JK Rowling's lawsuit against the publisher of a reference guide to the Harry Potter series urged both sides to settle, invoking Charles Dickens's Bleak House as a cautionary tale of litigants being damaged by long disputes.
US district judge Robert Patterson began the session yesterday by offering a stronger version of his comments on Tuesday, when he said the law surrounding the case was unclear and he might rule against either side. - (Bloomberg)
Pro-Russia rivals clash in Chechnya
GUDERMES- Rival pro- Russian forces in Chechnya faced each other in a tense stand-off yesterday after a shoot-out that left several people dead.
Soldiers commanded by pro-Kremlin Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov clashed earlier this week with fighters supporting a rival pro- Russian commander in Gudermes, a town in the east of the region. - (Reuters)
Iraq removes top commanders
BASRA- Iraq's government removed the top army and police commanders in Basra yesterday, weeks after a botched crackdown on militia fighters there triggered the country's worst fighting in months.
Army Lieut Gen Mohan al-Furaiji and police Maj Gen Abdul-Jalil Khalaf were among Iraq's most senior commanders. - (Reuters)
Darwin papers published online
CAMBRIDGE- Charles Darwin's original version of the theory of evolution is today being published on the internet. The first draft of the paper is among thousands of his documents being made available online by Cambridge University. They can be viewed for free at http://darwin-online.org.uk. - (PA)