A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Greek oil supertanker captured by pirates off Oman coast
OMAN – Suspected Somali pirates captured a US-bound tanker carrying around $200 million worth of crude oil in the Indian Ocean yesterday in one of the biggest hijackings in the area. The Irene SL, operated by Greek-based Enesel, is the length of three soccer pitches and had 25 crew members on board. She was carrying about two million barrels of oil.
Commander Susie Thomson, spokeswoman for Combined Maritime Forces fighting piracy in the area, said the tanker had been hijacked 220 miles off Oman and was likely to have been attacked by Somali pirates. – (Reuters)
Corpse found in bargain apartment
LISBON – A woman snapped up a bargain flat at an auction and found a previous owner last seen nearly nine years ago lying dead on the kitchen floor.
Augusta Martinho’s rotting body greeted her when she walked into her new apartment near Lisbon, Portugal, for the first time.
The pensioner (88), who lived alone with a pet dog also found dead in the flat, went missing in August 2002.
“Officers came but said they couldn’t force the front door open,” said a neighbour.
Web reunites father and trafficked son
BEIJING - China has become gripped by an internet campaign to trace children abducted and forced to become beggars, and reunite them with their families. Two weeks ago, Yu Jianrong, a government critic, began a blog urging people to post photographs of young beggars.
The blog has 1,000 pictures and seems to have been approved by the government. On Tuesday, Peng Gaofeng, a migrant worker, was reunited with his son who was kidnapped three years ago. - (Financial Times)
Judges threaten to sanction Taylor
THE HAGUE - The court trying Liberian ex-president Charles Taylor for war crimes ordered his lawyer to appear before it tomorrow and threatened "sanctions" if he did not apologise for snubbing the trial for a second day. The court for Sierra Leone said it was directing lawyer Courtenay Griffiths to attend a hearing scheduled for tomorrow. - (Reuters)