A round-up of today's other stories in brief.
Sharon faces long stay in hospital
JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's doctors cautioned yesterday against being overly optimistic about his chances for recovery from a massive stroke, and said he could be in hospital for months.
The 77-year-old leader's medical team at Jerusalem's Hadassah hospital reported "further slight improvement" as they tried gradually to bring him out of an induced coma, but he remained in critical condition. Neurosurgeons said it could be days before they were able to assess the extent of the damage he suffered from a brain haemorrhage on January 4th. - (Reuters)
Muslim pilgrims in stoning ritual
MENA - More than two million Muslim pilgrims pelted stones at symbols of the Devil in the second day of a sacred ritual yesterday amid tight security to avert stampedes during the Haj pilgrimage. Pilgrims from all over the world gather in the holy city of Mecca each year for the five-day Haj, which is a duty for every able-bodied Muslim at least once in a lifetime. - (Reuters)
Inquiry into CIA prison claims
BRUSSELS - Political leaders of the European Parliament will give the green light today for an inquiry into allegations that the CIA operated prisons in the European Union, a senior MEP has said.
Leaders of the parliament's seven political groups and President Josep Borrell will meet today to finalise details of the investigation, said Brian Crowley, Irish MEP and leader of the Union for Europe of Nations group. - (Reuters)
Pinochet loses immunity
SANTIAGO - Chile's former leader Augusto Pinochet was yesterday stripped of his legal immunity against trial for the killing of two bodyguards of Salvador Allende, the Marxist president he toppled in a bloody 1973 coup.
The president of the Santiago Court of Appeals, Juan Escobar, said the justices voted 17-6 to remove the immunity the 90-year-old retired general enjoys as a former president. - (PA)
Bin Laden's guard in pre-trial hearing
GUANTANAMO - A US military commission began a pre-trial hearing yesterday for a Yemeni man charged with conspiracy and who served as Osama bin Laden's bodyguard.
Two US soldiers guided Ali Hamza Ahmad Sulayman al Bahlul into the courtroom on this military base on the eastern tip of Cuba, where some 500 people captured in the US war on terror are detained. Some have been held as long as four years. During the hearing, the commission could set a trial schedule. - (PA)
Life sentence for attack on Bush
TBILISI - A man who tried to blow up President Bush with a grenade in the former Soviet state of Georgia last year, was sentenced to life imprisonment yesterday, a court said.
Vladimir Arutunyan, a Tbilisi resident, threw the grenade at Mr Bush while the president was addressing a crowd in the main square of the Georgian capital last May. - (Reuters)
Parents demand apology from Kelly
BRITAIN - Parents demanded an apology from UK Education Secretary Ruth Kelly last night after she revealed that ministers had allowed more adults on the sex offenders register to work in schools.
Ms Kelly announced an urgent review of the situation after confirming "a small number of cases" similar to that of Norfolk PE teacher Paul Reeve. The Government cleared Mr Reeve to work at the Hewett School in Norwich last year, even though he received a police caution for accessing banned images of children on the internet. - (PA)