A round-up of other news in brief
Chinese food official gets death sentence
BEIJING - The disgraced head of China's food and drug agency was sentenced to death yesterday amid a wave of consumer safety scandals.
Zheng Xiaoyu (62) was found guilty of accepting 6.5 million yuan in bribes from pharmaceutical companies to expedite the approval of new drugs.
Underscoring the state's determination to crack down on corruption and consumer safety violations, he is the most senior official to receive the death penalty in seven years.
Beijing fears a collapse of consumer confidence after a series of deadly food and drug scandals, often linked with lax regulation and bribe taking. - (Reuters)
Libya to buy British missiles
LIBYA - Libya will buy British missiles and air defence systems under a new defence co-operation agreement between the two countries, Libyan prime minister al-Baghdadi Al-Mahmoudi said yesterday.
"Libya will buy missiles and air defence weapons in addition to [ making arrangements for military] training and local manufacturing," he told reporters at the end of a one-day visit by British prime minister Tony Blair. - (Reuters)
Second term for Syrian president
DAMASCUS - Syrian president Bashar al-Assad won 97.62 per cent of the vote that anointed him to a second term in office, officials said yesterday.
The 41-year-old president was the only candidate allowed to put his name forward in the electoral procedures leading to Sunday's referendum, which was boycotted by the opposition. - (Reuters)
Relatives ransack Beslan courtroom
BESLAN - Women who lost relatives in Russia's Beslan school siege ransacked a courtroom yesterday as the judge granted an amnesty to three local policemen accused of failing to stop gunmen seizing the school.
The policemen are the only officials put on trial over the 2004 massacre in southern Russia in which 331 people - half of them children - were killed. Some survivors accuse the authorities of a cover-up.
As the judge began reading out an order granting the police officers an amnesty, the women began heckling the judge and tried to approach the bench but were stopped by a guard. A group of about 25 women then smashed courtroom windows, overturned furniture and tore down blinds and a Russian flag, said a witness in the building. - (Reuters)
Police charged over child porn
LONDON - Two police officers have been charged with possessing indecent images of children, Scotland Yard said last night.
Det Constable Graham Ferguson (40) is accused of two counts of possessing indecent images of children. Constable Gerard Collins (26) is charged with three counts of the same offence. - (PA)
Turkey accession talks to proceed
PARIS - France does not plan to stop the EU from opening new policy "chapters" in Turkey's accession talks next month despite President Nicolas Sarkozy's opposition to Turkish membership, an official said yesterday. - (Reuters)
Serbia arrests murder suspects
BELGRADE - Serbia has arrested seven people suspected of the murder and torture of non-Serb civilians in the early months of Croatia's 1991-95 war for independence, Serb police said yesterday.
The suspects were arrested late on Monday in connection with a series of killings in the Croatian village of Lovas, near the Serbian border, police said. - (Reuters)