BRUSSELS: A grand jury ruled yesterday that Marc Dutroux would stand trial this year or early 2004, seven years after being arrested for the abduction, rape and murder of four girls in Belgium's most notorious crime case.
Mr Dutroux has been in custody since August 1996 on the charges. The case shook Belgium and sparked mass protests over what was seen as police bungling in investigations.
The four girls who died included two eight-year-olds who starved to death in makeshift dungeons under one of Mr Dutroux's houses. He also faces charges for abducting two girls who survived. - (Reuters)
Police murder suspect in court
LONDON: A north African man accused of murdering a British policeman and attempting to kill four others during an anti-terror raid in Manchester appeared in court yesterday, handcuffed and flanked by several armed police.
Mr Kamel Bourgass (27) appeared at the high-security Belmarsh Magistrates Court in south London after his arrest on Tuesday night when a police raid ended in the death of Det Constable Stephen Oake. - (Reuters)
29 dead after mudslides in Brazil
BELO HORIZONTE: Rescue workers sifted through tonnes of thick brown mud and rubble yesterday with little hope of finding survivors of mudslides that left 29 confirmed dead and more feared buried in the central Brazilian state of Minas Gerais.
Torrential rains swept through the state early on Thursday, leaving 89 people injured and another 1,098 homeless, according to the civil defence unit. - (Reuters)
10 candidates for Cyprus presidency
NICOSIA: Ten candidates, including the incumbent leader and a campaigner for free love, submitted their bids for Cyprus's presidential elections yesterday in a poll which could determine the outcome of a UN reunification plan.
The winner of the February 16th poll will be mandated to negotiate a settlement on the ethnically-divided island. - (Reuters)
French plug holes in Prestige tanker
RENNES: A French submarine has plugged half the holes in the fractured hull of the sunken oil tanker Prestige, which has been spewing out viscous fuel oil since mid-November, maritime officials said yesterday.
The mini-submarine Nautile, which has been patching up cracks and collecting snakes of leaking oil in buckets since late December, has now sealed up 11 of the 20 holes in the tanker's hull, the Ifremer maritime authority said. - (Reuters)
New coalition formed in Greenland
COPENHAGEN: Greenland's social democratic Siumut party has formed a new coalition with liberals after a faith-healing row toppled its short-lived government with nationalist leftwingers.
Experts said they expected little change in the Danish territory's ties with Washington, which wants to upgrade a radar base to make it part of its planned missile defence shield. - (Reuters)
Nepalese royal to marry a commoner
KATHMANDU: The daughter of Nepal's king is to marry a commoner next week - but it is a marriage arranged by her parents and the wedding will be the second celebration in as many weeks for the family, which was almost annihilated in a 2001 massacre. - ( Reuters)