A round-up of today's other stories in brief...
Pope Pius's record on Jews defended
ROME- The Vatican tried to enrol Roman Jewish men in its security forces in 1943 in order to save them from the Nazis, according to the Vatican's second in command, rejecting charges that wartime Pope Pius XII was anti-Semitic.
Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican's secretary of state, who ranks second only to the pope in the Holy See hierarchy, made his comments at the presentation of a new book about Pius by Italian author Andrea Tornielli.
Cardinal Bertone called accusations that Pius turned a blind eye to the Holocaust "a black legend" and restated the Vatican's position that he worked behind the scenes to help save Jews. - (Reuters)
Palestinian camp shelling resumes
NAHR AL-BARED- Troops in Lebanon have resumed their shelling of a Palestinian refugee camp, trying to force the surrender of al Qaeda-inspired militants entrenched amid thousands of civilians.
Intermittent bursts of gunfire and explosions were heard through the day at Fatah al-Islam's base in Nahr al-Bared camp in north Lebanon, which has been pounded by army artillery in more than two weeks of fighting. - (Reuters)
Ukraine elections in September
KIEV- President Viktor Yushchenko has formally called a September election under a deal struck with his rival to end Ukraine's political crisis, but his adversaries have cast doubt on the legal grounds for the poll.
Months of turmoil pitting the pro-Western Mr Yushchenko against prime minister Viktor Yanukovich, his rival from the 2004 Orange Revolution, culminated in a hard-won agreement to hold the parliamentary elections on September 30th. - (Reuters)
Bolivian judges go on strike
LA PAZ- Judges went on strike for the first time in Bolivia's history yesterday, protesting that President Evo Morales's verbal attacks on the judiciary were undermining democracy.
In recent weeks Mr Morales has called judges corrupt and inefficient, and accused them of aligning themselves with the right wing and the US.
In a statement on Monday night, the Supreme Court said Mr Morales aimed to get rid of judges and pave the way for a "totalitarian regime". - (Reuters)
SA court allows documents
JOHANNESBURG- A South African court has granted the state permission to obtain documents from Mauritius which could implicate former deputy president Jacob Zuma in a new corruption case.
The Durban High Court decision could be a blow to the resilient and controversial politician, who is expected to be a strong candidate in the race to lead the ruling African National Congress (ANC) later this year. - (Reuters)
Iran says too late to stop programme
TEHRAN- President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said today that it was "too late" to stop Iran's nuclear programme and warned the US and its allies not to push for new UN sanctions.
"We advise them not to play with the lion's tail," Mr Ahmadinejad said .- (AP)
Two held over Pearl murder
KARACHI- Pakistani police have arrested two Islamist militants suspected of involvement in the 2002 kidnapping and murder of US reporter Daniel Pearl, government officials have said.
Pearl, a Wall Street Journal reporter, was kidnapped in Karachi in January 2002 while he was researching a story on Islamist militants. He was later found beheaded.
A British Islamist militant has been sentenced to death for the murder. - (Reuters)