A round-up of today's other world news stories in brief ...
Iran hangs 10 people in one day for murders
Iran hanged 10 convicted murderers in Tehran's Evin prison before dawn on Wednesday but one man's execution was postponed for a month.
Government newspaper Iran said yesterday: “Eleven individuals sentenced to death went to the gallows yesterday . . . one of them returned to his cell after receiving a reprieve.”
The Etemad-e Melli daily said the man’s execution was postponed because the family of his victim was not present. Under Iran’s Islamic law, Sharia, the family of a murder victim can pardon the killer in exchange for financial compensation, so-called “blood money”. – (Reuters)
Researchers say trees dying quicker
Trees in the western United States and Canada are dying twice as quickly as they did just 30 years ago, with rising average temperatures almost certainly to blame, according to researchers.
These thinner and weaker forests will become more vulnerable to wildfires and may soak up less carbon dioxide, in turn speeding up global warming, they say.
The US and Canadian researchers studied trees in old-growth forests for more than 50 years to document the die-off, which they say is beginning to outpace replacement by new trees.
Warmer temperatures may also be encouraging pine beetles and other organisms which attack trees, the researchers add. – (Reuters)
Jonathan Ross to apologise tonight
Jonathan Ross will issue a new apology when he returns to TV screens tonight after his suspension by BBC bosses over the “grossly offensive” prank phone call scandal.
The presenter is hosting his popular Friday Night With Jonathan Rossfor the first time since the controversy caused by the calls he made with Russell Brand to actor Andrew Sachs on Brand's radio show last October.
Brand resigned from the BBC and Ross, reputed to be paid £6 million a year, issued a public apology and was suspended without pay for 12 weeks.
The BBC reported that during yesterday’s recording for his return programme, Ross again said sorry for his behaviour. – (Reuters)
Mozart two-minute find performed
A fragment of music by Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart had its first known public performance yesterday in the western French city of Nantes, where it had lain for years in a municipal library.
The two pieces, with a combined duration of under two minutes, were played on the violin by Daniel Cuiller, artistic director of the Baroque music ensemble Stradivaria, before a small audience of journalists and friends.
The one-page score, which was a fragment from a Mass, was donated to the Nantes library by a private collector at the end of the 19th century but had previously been thought to be a copy rather than an original. – (Reuters)