Today's other stories in brief
Australian in Guantánamo to be charged
WASHINGTON - The US military has charged Australia's only detainee in Guantánamo Bay with providing material support for terrorism, the Pentagon has said.
The charges against David Hicks are the first brought against a suspected al-Qaeda or Taliban member under the military commissions law passed by Congress last year.
Australian prime minister John Howard, facing a tough election this year, had demanded that Hicks be charged by the end of February and had pressed Washington for a speedy trial.
Hicks (31), who has been in the Guantánamo prison for five years, will be notified of the charges this week, a Pentagon spokesman said. - ( Reuters)
Prodi wins second Italian vote
ROME - Italian centre-left leader Romano Prodi has been reconfirmed as prime minister after winning a second and final confidence vote in parliament, ending a political crisis and ensuring there will be no snap election.
He won by 342 votes to 198 yesterday with two abstentions in the lower house, a much wider margin than in Wednesday's vote in the senate, where he remains vulnerable to further defections by allies like one who forced him to resign temporarily last week.
Mr Prodi stepped down after splits in his centre-left coalition lost him a foreign policy vote. He was then instructed by President Giorgio Napolitano to test his majority in parliament to see if he had the support to return to power. - ( Reuters)
British judge on exposure charges
LONDON - A senior British judge has been charged with indecently exposing himself on trains in London.
British transport police said yesterday they had charged Lord Justice Stephen Richards (56) with two counts of exposure following a decision by the Crown Prosecution Service.
"The charges stem from two separate incidents on trains in southwest London last year," a police spokesman said.
Mr Richards was bailed to appear before Westminster magistrates court on March 8th. - (Reuters)
Astronaut avoids murder charge
ORLANDO - Astronaut Lisa Nowak, who stunned colleagues by driving from Houston to Orlando in a nappy to confront a woman she thought was a love rival, has been charged with attempted kidnapping but not with attempted murder, prosecutors have said.
The former space shuttle crew member was also formally charged yesterday with battery and using a weapon to attempt a car break-in. She is accused of pepper-spraying US air force captain Colleen Shipman, the girlfriend of fellow astronaut Bill Oefelien. - ( Reuters)
Spanish teenager murdered parents
MADRID - Spanish police have discovered the body of a German teenager and the chopped-up remains of his parents in their coastal villa in eastern Spain, the interior ministry said yesterday.
Initial investigations indicated the 19-year-old shot himself on Thursday, five days after the death of his parents. Police suspect the youth killed his parents and then took his own life. - (AP)
'Titanic' watches to go on sale
ZURICH - Luxury wristwatches using traces of steel and coal taken from the shipwreck of the Titanic are to go on sale later this year, the timepieces' Swiss maker said yesterday.
Parts of each watch's case will use an alloy, to be cast by the Titanic's builders Harland and Wolff, using a small piece of metal taken from the shipwreck and combined with new steel, said Yvan Arpa, of Geneva watchmakers Romain Jerome. - ( Reuters)