A roundup of today's other stories in brief.
Seventh day of killings in Mogadishu
MOGADISHU -A car bomb killed four civilians in Mogadishu and a suicide attacker struck at Ethiopian soldiers yesterday as battles between government forces and Islamist insurgents raged for a seventh day.
Hundreds of people have died in the week of artillery duels and gun battles between Somali-Ethiopian forces and rebels, frustrating the government's attempt to restore central rule in the Horn of Africa country for the first time in 16 years. - (Reuters)
'Diana death' judge steps down
LONDON -Elizabeth Butler-Sloss will step down in June as the judge overseeing the official British investigation into the death of Princess Diana, it was announced yesterday.
The High Court decided last month that the inquests into the deaths of Diana and her lover Dodi Fayed should be heard by a jury, overturning an earlier decision by Ms Butler-Sloss, who wanted to handle the official inquiries on her own. - (Reuters)
Romania's new law to thwart Basescu
BUCHAREST -Romania's parliament brought in new legislation yesterday that could make it more difficult for suspended president Traian Basescu to return to office even if he avoids impeachment in a referendum on May 19th.
One opposition party branded the new law as unconstitutional.
Last week, parliament suspended the popular reformist president from office for 30 days on charges of overstepping his constitutional powers, paving the way for the referendum to decide whether he should be impeached. - (Reuters)
Female teachers held over sex abuse
ROME -Italian police yesterday arrested three female teachers and a female janitor and two men accused of drugging at least five primary school children in order to sexually abuse them.
Lawyers representing the families of the five children said it was not yet known if more children were involved at the school, which is for children aged three to five, on the outskirts of Rome. - (Reuters)
Iranian women get dressing down
TEHRAN -Women in Tehran who repeatedly flout the Islamic dress code in defiance of a police crackdown may be banned from the Iranian capital for up to five years, Tehran's prosecutor said in comments published yesterday.
"Those women who appear in public like decadent models endanger the security and dignity of young men," prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi was quoted as saying by the Etemad newspaper. - (Reuters)
Polish court reprimanded
STRASBOURG -Europe's top human rights court yesterday ruled that Poland did not give a fair trial to a politician who lost his post due to a law requiring officials to declare links with the communist-era secret police.
It said rules on access to classified files had limited Tadeusz Matyjek's ability to defend himself during legal proceedings which eventually led him to step down from parliament in 2000 to comply with the 1997 vetting law. - (Reuters)
Syrian rights leader gets 5 years
DAMASCUS -A Syrian court sentenced a leading human rights lawyer to five years in prison yesterday for criticising government policy towards Lebanon.
Anwar al-Bunni was among a group of Syrian activists and intellectuals arrested a year ago after signing a document known as the Damascus-Beirut Declaration that called for a review of relations between the two countries. - (Reuters)