Today's other stories in brief
Witness fails to turn up at Mosley case
LONDON- A star defence witness failed to turn up in a privacy case involving sado-masochistic sex and motor racing boss Max Mosley in London's High Court yesterday.
The witness, a prostitute who secretly filmed a basement orgy of Mr Mosley and four other women, some dressed in German military uniforms, gave no reason for her failure to appear.
Mosley (68), president of Formula One's governing body, the International Automobile Federation (FIA), brought the case against the News of the World, which last year published photos taken at the orgy. The case was adjourned and will resume on Monday. - (Reuters)
Indian PM seeks confidence vote
NEW DELHI - Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh sought a vote of confidence in his government after his communist allies withdrew their support in protest against a nuclear deal with the United States.
The date of the parliamentary vote will be announced today. - (Reuters)
Hamas arrests rocket attackers
GAZA - Hamas arrested three Palestinians who fired rockets into Israel from the Gaza Strip yesterday, a militant faction said, in the first such detentions since the Islamist group and Israel agreed a truce last month.
Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a group linked to President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah group, said Hamas men pursued its members after the attack and "abducted them" in Jabalya refugee camp.
No one was hurt in the two-rocket strike on southern Israel. - (Reuters)
Villagers kill Taliban militants
KABUL - A group of villagers in north-western Afghanistan used a machine-gun, sticks and stones to kill two Taliban militants and chase 10 others away yesterday.
The confrontation between the Taliban and villagers in the north-western province of Faryab happened after militants tried to abduct aid workers building a well in Qayar district on Wednesday, said Khalil Andarabi. - (AP)
Massacre case cannot be heard
THE HAGUE - A Dutch court ruled it had no jurisdiction to hear a case brought by relatives of those massacred in Srebrenica in 1995 against the UN for failing to protect them.
But it said a civil case will proceed in September against the Dutch state for failing to prevent the murder by Bosnian Serb forces of at least 8,000 Muslim men and boys that Dutch UN peacekeepers had been charged to protect.
The UN invoked its legal immunity after relatives of some 6,000 victims filed a suit last year against the Dutch state and the UN in the Netherlands. - (Reuters)
Worshipper sues church after fall
NASHVILLE - A man claims he was so consumed by the spirit of God that he fell and hit his head while worshipping.
Now he wants a Tennessee church to pay $2.5 million dollars for medical bills, lost income and pain and suffering. Matt Lincoln (57) said he was suing after the church's insurance company denied his claim. - (AP)
Man tried to sell stolen paintings
MIAMI - A Frenchman pleaded guilty in a US court to charges of conspiring to transport artwork stolen at gunpoint from a museum in Nice, including a painting by Impressionist Claude Monet.
Bernard Jean Ternus admitted he tried to broker the sale of the stolen paintings to undercover agents from the FBI and French national police.
Armed robbers stole the works from the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Nice in August 2007. - (Reuters)