A round-up of today's other stories in brief.
Romania: - Romania's judicial watchdog said yesterday it would investigate the activities of anti-corruption prosecutors as the new EU member came under fire for stalling justice reforms.
Minister for justice Tudor Chiuariu last week called for top anti-corruption prosecutor Doru Tulus to be dismissed. However, Mr Chiuariu has come under heavy criticism from prosecutors, civil society and Romania's widely respected former minister for justice Monica Macovei, who say his request is an attack on the country's fledgling efforts to fight top-level crime. - (Reuters)
Two killed in mortar attacks
Middle East: Two people were killed in mortar attacks on Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone yesterday, the second serious attack in two days, as a search for three US soldiers held by al-Qaeda south of the capital intensified.
Violence raged across Iraq, with police confirming that 45 people had been killed on Tuesday by a chlorine gas truck bomb in Diyala. - (Reuters)
Estonia opens first synagogue
Middle East: Israeli vice- premier Shimon Peres joined Estonian officials and members of the local Jewish community yesterday to mark the opening of the first synagogue in the Baltic state since the second World War.
Estonia was the only country in Europe to be declared "free of Jews" by the Nazis. The nation's 5,000 Jews were either deported to gulags in the Soviet Union in 1941, fled the country ahead of advancing Nazi troops or were killed in the Holocaust. - (Reuters)
Poll win for Putin party forecast
Russia: The pro-Putin United Russia party would win 57 per cent of votes if Russia held parliamentary elections this week, while the liberal opposition would get 4 per cent and no seats, polling firm Levada said yesterday.
Elections are due in December for the State Duma, the lower house of parliament. - (Reuters)
Judge lost on the worldwide web
London: A British judge admitted yesterday he was struggling to cope with terms such as "website" in the trial of three men accused of inciting terrorism.
Judge Peter Openshaw broke into the questioning of a witness to say: "The trouble is I don't understand the language. I don't really understand what a website is." - (Reuters)
Mayor defends gay parade ban
Lithuania: The mayor of Lithuania's capital said yesterday he would not reverse a decision to refuse gay activists the right to stage a gay pride event but Sweden said the ban was illegal.
"Let them demonstrate their hobby in their own space. Society would not tolerate public demonstration," Liberal Democrat mayor Juozas Imbrasas said.