A round-up of today's other stories
Olmert close to forming coalition
JERUSALEM - Israel's acting prime minister Ehud Olmert was on the verge of signing up enough partners for a coalition government yesterday after a key faction agreed in principle to join up, political sources said.
They said Shas, an ultra-religious Jewish party, had drafted a coalition deal with Mr Olmert's centrist Kadima which awaited the approval of Shas's ruling rabbis. With Shas on board, Olmert would control 67 of parliament's 120 seats - a majority crucial to pushing through a plan to withdraw from isolated Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank in the absence of peace talks with the Palestinians. - (Reuters)
Landslide kills four in a family
ROME - A father and three of his daughters were killed yesterday when a landslide destroyed their house on the southern Italian island of Ischia.
The man and his three daughters, aged 18, 16 and 12, were buried under rubble when earth and stones crashed into their house after a hillside gave way in heavy rain, police said. The mother and a three-year-old girl were taken to a nearby hospital with light injuries. - (Reuters)
Rock musician Doherty on bail
LONDON - Rock musician Pete Doherty was released on police bail yesterday after being questioned over pictures showing him allegedly injecting a drug into a girl fan's arm.
The Babyshambles frontman was arrested on a street in east London on Saturday. A Scotland Yard spokeswoman said: "He was released on bail to return on a date in July pending further inquiries." - (PA)
Egypt extends emergency law
CAIRO - Egypt's parliament yesterday agreed to a two-year extension of emergency law requested by the government while it prepares replacement anti-terrorism laws.
The Muslim Brotherhood, the strongest opposition force, said there was no justification for extending the law, which President Hosni Mubarak last year promised to substitute with anti-terrorism legislation.
Mr Mubarak had already signalled that the law would be extended before bombers killed 18 people in the Red Sea resort of Dahab last week. - (Reuters)
Holocaust survivor dies
BERLIN - Holocaust survivor Paul Spiegel, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, died on Sunday aged 68 after a long illness, the council said. Mr Spiegel had headed the council, which represents some 100,000 Jews in the country that once tried to wipe them out since 2000. - (Reuters)
US urged to halt Darfur 'genocide'
WASHINGTON - Several thousand Americans, led by religious leaders, entertainers and politicians, marched yesterday to urge the US to halt "genocide" in Sudan's Darfur region.
"Darfur deserves to live. We are its only hope," Nobel Peace prizewinner and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel told the crowd that converged on the National Mall in Washington. - (Reuters)
It's true - mice cannot swim
A woman and her adult son have been convicted of trying to extort money from the American Cracker Barrel restaurant chain by claiming they found a dead mouse in a bowl of soup in 2004. Jurors deliberated for almost four hours on Friday before convicting Carla Patterson (38) and Ricky Patterson (22) of conspiracy to commit extortion.
Charges were filed after a necropsy showed the mouse died of a fractured skull. It had no soup in its lungs and had not been cooked, signs that the rodent was dropped into the soup after its death. - (PA)