A round-up of today's other stories in brief
French jail terms for six Ark activists
PARIS - Six French activists sentenced in Chad to eight years' hard labour for trying to kidnap dozens of children had their sentences converted into French jail terms of the same length by a court yesterday.
The six members of the aid group Zoe's Ark were arrested in Chad in October and found guilty last month of trying to kidnap 103 African children. They were later flown back to France under a co-operation agreement between the two countries.
French law does not recognise hard labour and the court in the Paris suburb of Créteil converted their sentences into normal prison terms of eight years at a hearing that did not examine the merits of the case against them in Chad.
- (Reuters)
Child hostages freed in Pakistan
KARACHI - Gunmen released dozens of child hostages from a school in northwest Pakistan yesterday after a car chase, a shoot-out with police and a five-hour siege.
The six armed men stormed into the school near Bannu, on the edge of troubled North Waziristan tribal agency, after kidnapping a government health official and his driver in a nearby town.
As security forces surrounded the school, tribal elders negotiated to prevent the gunmen acting on a threat to kill their captives. Five hours later all walked free after a deal in which the gunmen were allowed to flee unhindered.
The government initially claimed 250 children were involved but the local police chief later put the figure at 25 students and seven teachers. - (Reuters)
Five US soldiers killed in Iraq
BAGHDAD - Five US soldiers were killed in a co-ordinated ambush in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul yesterday, the US military said, making it one of the deadliest single attacks against American forces in months.
The patrol was hit by a roadside bomb and then came under small arms fire, the military said, a day after extra Iraqi troops arrived for a final push against al-Qaeda in what has been described as its last urban stronghold. - (Reuters)
Sharon's son Omri set for prison
JERUSALEM - Ariel Sharon's son should go to jail for corruption next month, on the day the comatose former prime minister turns 80, Israel's Supreme Court ruled yesterday.
A justice ministry spokesman said judges rejected Omri Sharon's appeal against a sentence for fraudulently raising campaign funds for his father. Israeli media said that meant he would begin his seven-month term on February 27th.
The 43-year-old pleaded guilty and resigned from parliament in 2006 after the elder Sharon was forced from office by a massive stroke that plunged him into a coma. - (Reuters)
Greek Orthodox Church head dies
ATHENS - The head of Greece's powerful Orthodox Church, Archbishop Christodoulos, who mended ties with the Vatican but clashed with the Greek state, died of cancer yesterday aged 69.
A staunch defender of the role of the church in Greece, he died at his home in Athens. Flags flew at half-mast on the Acropolis and across the city as bells tolled. - (Reuters)
Reunited with engagement ring
ENGLAND - A widow has been reunited with her engagement ring nearly 70 years after she threw it into a field following a tiff with her fiance.
Violet Booth (88) never thought she would see the diamond ring again after throwing it away in Gilmorton, Leicester, in 1941. The ring was found last week after a two-hour search in the field with a metal detector. - (PA)