Today's other stories in brief
Blair knew police stopped investigators
LONDON - Tony Blair was aware police were preventing independent investigators viewing the scene of Jean Charles de Menezes's shooting, an inquest heard.
Chief Insp Stephen Costello, a post-incident manager at Scotland Yard, revealed that Mr Blair was consulted over a decision to stop the Independent Police Complaints Commission from entering Stockwell Tube station in the wake of the killing. -(PA)
Vatican lends marble to Greece
ATHENS - The Vatican returned a small fragment of the Parthenon Marbles to Greece on a one-year loan, fuelling calls for the British Museum to hand back its own priceless sculptures from the ancient temple.
The loan of the fragment, one of three in the Vatican Museum's vast collection of antiquities, follows a request for its return by Greece's late Orthodox Archbishop Christodoulos at a meeting with Pope Benedict in 2006. -(Reuters)
Bosnia war crime suspect arrested
AMSTERDAM - Dutch prosecutors arrested a Bosnian war crime suspect yesterday who had been living in the Netherlands for the last 13 years.
The suspect (39) was detained around midday in the area of Leidschendam-Voorburg near The Hague, prosecutors said.
"The man is suspected of shooting and killing a captive on November 11th, 1993," they said. - (Reuters)
Anti-China rally at Taipei hotel
TAIPEI - About 1,000 protesters surrounded a hotel in Taiwan's capital, where Chinese negotiator Chen Yunlin held a meeting yesterday, to protest against closer ties between the two political rivals.
Hundreds of riot police stopped the protesters from various political groups getting into the Formosa Regent hotel for more than seven hours, causing minor scuffles. - (Reuters)
French train drivers on strike
PARIS - Two French train drivers' unions are due to begin a strike causing disruption to rail traffic in a protest over management demands for more flexible working conditions.
The Sud and CGT unions' strike will continue until tomorrow morning.
Disruption of varying degrees is expected to services during the day. - (Reuters)
No foul play in Mexico air crash
MEXICO CITY - Investigators probing a plane crash that killed Mexico's interior minister have found no indication that it was caused by sabotage or foul play, communications minister Luis Tellez said yesterday.
Interior minister Juan Camilo Mourino, President Felipe Calderon's right-hand man and the number two in his government, died on Tuesday when a small government plane crashed in Mexico City, killing all eight aboard and narrowly missing high-rise office buildings full of workers. -(Reuters)
Mugabe rejects election calls
HARARE - President Robert Mugabe's government yesterday accused Botswanan president Ian Khama of interference and said his call for fresh elections to solve Zimbabwe's political crisis was an "act of extreme provocation".
Mr Khama, who has emerged as one of Mr Mugabe's staunchest critics in Africa, told Botswana's parliament on Monday that an election was the only way out of the deadlock that threatens to derail a power-sharing deal between Mr Mugabe and the opposition MDC.