Today's other stories in brief
Judge begins hearing Fritzl testimony
AUSTRIA: An Austrian judge has begun hearing testimony from Elisabeth Fritzl about her 24-year ordeal as a prisoner of her father Josef in a hidden cellar beneath their home.
Judge Andrea Hummer, who will hear the full case against Josef Fritzl later this year, questioned his 42-year-old daughter in her home town of Amstetten.
Mr Fritzl was not present. His lawyer Dr Rudolf Mayer and the state prosecutor watched the questioning via video link. Both were able to ask questions and the testimony was recorded for use in the main trial.
Belgium ratifies Lisbon Treaty
BELGIUM: Belgium has completed its approval of the Lisbon Treaty as the parliament of the country's Flemish region cleared the document.
Sixteen EU members have completed the ratification process and several more are close. The treaty needs the backing of all 27 member states to come into force. - (Reuters)
UN backs Bhutto killing probe
US: United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-moon said he would set up an independent commission to identify the assassins of Pakistan's former prime minister Benazir Bhutto's "with a view to bring them to justice".
"The objectives are for the commission to identify the culprits, perpetrators, organisers and financiers of the assassination," Pakistan's foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said. - (AP)
Thaksin faces new charges
THAILAND:Thai prosecutors filed new charges against former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra yesterday, accusing him of amending laws to benefit his telecoms empire in the years before he was ousted in a 2006 coup.
Thailand's supreme court will decide in September whether the billionaire tycoon should stand trial on the charges, which allege the legislative changes cost the state 66 billion baht (€1.23 billion) in lost telecom concession revenues.
If Mr Thaksin is convicted, he could face up to 10 years in jail. - (Reuters)
Statue given by Hitler removed
AUSTRIA: The Austrian city of Linz has removed a statue of Aphrodite from a park after learning that it was a present from Hitler.
Authorities in Austria's third-largest city said they checked the origins of the bronze statue after someone left an unsigned note on it stating that the statue of the Greek goddess of love was a gift from the Nazi leader.
Research in Linz's city archives determined that the claim was correct and the statue was immediately removed and put in storage.
The statue had been mounted on a pedestal in a small colonnaded pavilion in a Linz park since 1942, when Austria was part of Hitler's Third Reich. - (Reuters)