A roundup of today's other stories in brief.
Hunt for killer of two nuns at Greek convent
ATHENS -Concern is growing in Greece over security at remote monasteries after the murder of two elderly Greek Orthodox nuns at a hillside convent in what police say was probably a robbery that went wrong.
The nuns, Theodora Mayniakoura (86) and Maria Vlahaki (63), were buried yesterday as police hunted for their killers in a case that has shocked the nation.
For decades the sole inhabitants of the monastery of the Assumption of the Virgin in the Peloponnese, the nuns were suffocated in their sleep by robbers believed to be after a crucifix encrusted with wood allegedly from the cross on which Jesus died.
Dimitris Raptis, the police officer overseeing the case, in Arcadia, said: "It was a vicious crime that has unnerved people because it has shown just how exposed to attack these monasteries are."
The convent, like hundreds of religious sanctuaries in Greece, is off the beaten track, sitting above the village of Aghios Andrea, near Astros. - (Guardian service)
Toure expected to win Mali election
BAMAKO -Malians voted peacefully yesterday in elections expected to give President Amadou Toumani Toure a second term at the helm of one of the world's poorest countries.
A steady trickle of voters turned out at polling stations in the capital, Bamako, and around the vast former French colony on the Sahara's southern edge to choose who will be president for the next five years. Eight candidates including Toure are standing. Soldiers guarded voting remained orderly.
Many of Mali's 6.9 million registered voters waited until evening to cast their ballots, once the 40 degree heat had subsided. Initial results may be announced today. - (Reuters)
Prisoners pay up while paying dues
WASHINGTON -Paying your dues to society takes on a whole new meaning in California. For $171 a day, prisoners can get cell upgrades that offer access to iPods, laptops, mobiles, better food and, the biggest selling point of all, isolation from violent inmates.
One police department makes this fear of sexual predators its main sales pitch: "Bad things happen to good people." In the pay-to-stay scheme, the cells are bare but cleaner than the communal ones and inmates are allowed to take in personal possessions denied non-paying prisoners.
Payments have to be made in advance for short stays but those serving longer sentences can pay in instalments.
The offer is available only to those facing what the justice system classifies as minor offences, such as drink-driving. Violent offenders are ruled out. The cost of upgrades varies, starting at $70 a day. - (Guardian service)
Thousands to bare all in photo shoot
MEXICO CITY -US artist Spencer Tunick will fill Mexico City's Zocalo square - the centre of the ancient Aztec empire and the heart of modern Mexico - with thousands of naked Mexicans next week for his latest mass nude photo shoot.
Tunick, who was refused permission to stage his nude photo at Mexico's famed Teotihuacan pyramids, has been granted permission to use the Zocalo for his shoot next Sunday, local media reported yesterday. The Mexico City government was not available for comment.
The Zocalo is framed by the city cathedral, City Hall and the Diego Rivera mural-adorned National Palace and dominated by a flagpole flying the national flag.
Tunick has raised eyebrows by staging mass nude photo shoots in cities from Dusseldorf, Germany, to Caracas. Participants often lie down to create an image resembling a sea of multihued flesh. - (Reuters)