A roundup of today's other stories in brief.
Kidnapped journalist handed over
KANDAHAR -An Italian journalist kidnapped in Afghanistan was handed over to an Italian hospital yesterday after two weeks in captivity and days after his driver was executed.
La Repubblica reporter Daniele Mastrogiacomo was in good health, under the care of the Italian aid hospital Emergency in the violence-racked southern province of Helmand, Italian ambassador Ettore Francesco Sequi told reporters in Kabul.
"[ He is in] very good health," Mr Sequi said. "He's in very good physical condition." - (Reuters)
Jail terms for fake surgeons upheld
BEIJING -A Chinese court has upheld jail terms for two brothers, acting as surgeons, whose cataract laser treatments resulted in nine people having their eyes surgically removed.
Judges at Suzhou intermediate people's court, in eastern Anhui province, issued a final ruling that the two had been rightly convicted of illegally practising medicine and should serve their jail terms of five and six years.
The problems began in December 2005, when the two operated on 10 patients at Suzhou City Hospital.
"Nine of the patients who had the surgery were infected with the bacillus pyocyaneus in the eyes that day, which eventually led to the removal of their eyes," Chinese news agency Xinhua said.
The cause of the infection is still unknown. - (Reuters)
PM's sex slave remarks rejected
TOKYO -Japan was morally responsible for forcing women to work in wartime brothels, a former Japanese leader said yesterday, in a veiled criticism of prime minister Shinzo Abe's comments on sex slaves.
Former prime minister Tomiichi Murayama, who made a landmark apology for Japan's wartime actions in 1995, also said efforts by politicians to justify the second World War were making Asian neighbours worry Tokyo was returning to its militarist past.
Mr Abe sparked outrage overseas by saying there was no evidence that Japan's government or army had kidnapped the women to work as sex slaves. - (Reuters)