A round-up of other world news in brief
Hostage Moore spent time in Iran, says US
BAGHDAD – British computer programmer Peter Moore, freed this week 2½ years after his kidnapping in Iraq, spent at least part of his captivity in Iran, according to US intelligence assessments.
However, Gen David Petraeus, the head of US Central Command, said it was difficult to determine what role Iran’s Revolutionary Guards might have played in the abduction of Mr Moore and four bodyguards from an Iraqi finance ministry building.
The bodies of three of the bodyguards have since been handed over to British authorities, who believe the fourth is dead. The Guardian newspaper reported that Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps led the kidnapping and that Moore was seized because his computer work would have shown that large amounts of aid money flowing to Iraq were being diverted to Iranian-backed militia groups in Iraq. – (Reuters)
French festivities turn violent
PARIS – Youths burned 1,137 cars across France overnight as New Year’s Eve celebrations once again turned violent.
Car burnings are regular occurrences in poor suburbs that ring France’s big cities, but the arson is especially prevalent during New Year’s Eve revelry.
The number of vehicles torched was only 10 short of the record 1,147 burned last year, even though the interior ministry mobilised 45,000 police – 10,000 more than 12 months ago. Police detained 549 people overnight.
However, unlike previous years, there were no direct clashes between police and youths. – (Reuters)
Man prefers jail to new year at home
ROME – A Sicilian man stole sweets and a packet of chewing gum so he could get arrested and spend New Year’s Eve in a jail cell rather than be with his wife and relatives.
The 35-year-old Sicilian first showed up at a police station on Thursday asking to be arrested, but was rebuffed because he had not committed a crime, the Agi news agency said.
The man immediately went to a tobacco shop next door, where he threatened the owner with a boxcutter as he grabbed a few sweets and a packet of gum. He then waited until police arrived to arrest him for robbery.
– (Reuters)
Price of cheapest vodka doubled
MOSCOW – Minimum prices for vodka took effect in Russia yesterday as part of President Dmitry Medvedev’s campaign to combat alcoholism at a time when Russians traditionally drink heavily.
The price of the cheapest half-litre vodka bottle will almost double to a new minimum of 89 roubles, according to the alcohol regulator’s website. In the run up to the New Year festivities, Moscow’s supermarkets carried vast selections of vodka with luxury brands priced more than 10 times above the new minimum. – (Reuters)