A round-up of today's other world stories in brief
Prodi denies abuse of office over EU funds
ROME - Italian prime minister Romano Prodi, reacting to a media report he was under investigation for possible abuse of office, has said he has not been notified and that he is innocent of any wrongdoing.
Mr Prodi issued the statement after the website of Panorama news weekly said magistrates had added his name to a preliminary list of people being investigated for abuse of office as part of an inquiry into possible misuse of EU funds. To be put under investigation in Italy does not necessarily imply any wrongdoing. - (Reuters)
Turkish troops boosted at border
DIYARBAKIR - Turkey's army has boosted troop levels in the restive southeast to more than 200,000, most of them stationed along the border with Iraq.
The unusually large-scale build-up, which includes tanks, heavy artillery and aircraft, is part of a security crackdown on Kurdish rebels hiding in southeast Turkey and northern Iraq, according to security sources. - (Reuters)
Infant had 1.2mg of alcohol in blood
WARSAW - Doctors in Poland have saved the life of a baby born with 1.2mg of alcohol in its blood to a drunk mother, writes Derek Scally.
The 34-year-old woman fled from the hospital a day after giving birth but was later arrested as doctors battled to save the life of her child. The baby had to be artificially resuscitated after a blood test revealed the high level of alcohol in its blood. Doctors say the baby is now out of danger but fear serious brain damage.
Three-year-old freed in Nigeria
NIGER DELTA - A Nigerian three-year-old boy has been released by his kidnappers a day after he was snatched on his way to school in the lawless Niger Delta, the boy's father has said.
About 200 adult expats have been kidnapped in the Niger Delta since the start of 2006 and 15 are still being held by various armed groups. - (Reuters)
Father kills man, children, himself
PARIS - A French gendarme killed two of his children and a superior before shooting himself in a military police barracks south of Paris.
President Nicolas Sarkozy and interior minister Michele Alliot-Marie visited the barracks in Malakoff.
The 43-year-old gendarme, who was under psychological supervision and had had his service weapon withdrawn, shot his superior with his personal weapon. He then killed two of his three children, a boy and a girl aged 11, before turning the weapon on himself. - (Reuters)
Baby survives fall from window
SHANGHAI - A 10-month- old girl survived an eight- storey plunge after her drunk father apparently threw her out a window during an argument with his mother-in-law, the Shanghai Daily said yesterday.
The child suffered only a broken leg when her fall was slowed by branches of a tree and she landed in a flower bed, the newspaper said. She was in hospital but out of danger. - (Reuters)