A round-up of today's other world news in brief ...
Two jailed for murder of two French students
LONDON – Two British men have been given jail sentences totalling 75 years for the torture and murder of two French students during what prosecutors described as an “orgy of blood-letting” in the students’ London flat.
Dano Sonnex (23) and Nigel Farmer (33) tied up postgraduate students Laurent Bonomo and Gabriel Ferez and stabbed them 244 times before setting fire to their flat during a botched burglary last June.
Judge John Saunders jailed Sonnex for a minimum of 40 years and Farmer for at least 35 years. – (Reuters)
Ship’s coins to be returned to Spain
MADRID – The Spanish government has welcomed a Florida court decision ordering US treasure hunters to return to Spain more than 500,000 silver and gold coins raised from the seabed.
Tampa-based Odyssey Marine Exploration found the 17-tonne haul, which some experts valued at $500 million (€353 million), two years ago in a location it has not disclosed.
Spain said the coins came from the Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes, a warship carrying treasure back from Peru when it was sunk by British gunboats off Spain in 1804. – (Reuters)
David Carradine found dead in hotel
BANGKOK – US actor David Carradine (72) has been found dead, naked and hanging from a rope in the closet of his luxury Bangkok hotel room, Thai police said.
The actor won fame as the wandering monk in the Kung Fu television series. – (Reuters)
Gay penguins raise abandoned chick
BREMERHAVEN – A pair of gay male penguins are raising a chick from an egg abandoned by its parents, according to officials at a German zoo.
The Bremerhaven zoo veterinarian said the egg was placed in the male penguins’ nest after its parents rejected it in late April. The males incubated it for 30 days before it hatched and have continued to care for it.
The vet said the male birds are one of three same-sex pairs among the zoo’s 20 Humboldt penguins. – (AP)
Croatia told to find war documents
NEW YORK – Croatia must do more to find and hand over documents to the UN tribunal for former Yugoslavia, chief prosecutor Serge Brammertz has said, in a blow to Zagreb’s EU entry hopes. – (Reuters)
Poles proud of EU membership
WARSAW – Almost two- thirds of Poles consider their country’s membership of the EU its greatest achievement since the overthrow of communism two decades ago, according to a survey.
Poles are celebrating the 20th anniversary of partially free elections on June 4th, 1989, which established a government backed by the labour union Solidarity and which triggered the collapse of communist rule across eastern Europe. – (Reuters)