More world news in brief
Bloodstained items found in Jersey home
LONDON- Bloodstained items have been found in the cellars of a former home in Jersey at the centre of a child abuse inquiry, police said yesterday.
About 160 people have said they were abused at Haut de la Garenne, which closed as a children's home in 1986.
Many have said they were abused in the building's cellars.
Jersey deputy police chief Lenny Harper said the items were found over the past few days, but stressed they might have an innocent explanation. - (Reuters)
Advisers prepare for Cyprus talks
NICOSIA- Greek and Turkish Cypriot negotiators met yesterday for the first time in four years to lay the groundwork for reunification talks between the divided island's leaders that are expected to start in June.
Hopes of reuniting Cyprus, divided between Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities, have risen since Greek Cypriot Demetris Christofias was elected president in February.
Both he and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat say they want a settlement. - (Reuters)
Putin denies divorce reports
PORTO ROTONDO- Silvio Berlusconi returned to the world diplomatic stage yesterday by hosting Russian president Vladimir Putin, flagging a friendship he said was beneficial to Italy and the world.
But the event lost some of its lustre when Mr Putin was prompted, before the glare of television cameras, to deny reports he had secretly divorced his wife and planned to marry an Olympic gymnast.
Mr Berlusconi, elected to a third term as Italian prime minister on Monday, welcomed the Russian leader to his holiday villa on the island of Sardinia, an informal setting meant to underscore the personal nature of their relationship. - (Reuters)
Springsteen band member dies
NEW YORK- Keyboardist Danny Federici, who for four decades played alongside rock star Bruce Springsteen as part of the E Street Band and helped define his rollicking sound, has died of melanoma. He was 58.
Federici's death at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York on Thursday was announced on Springsteen's official website and the rocker postponed a pair of weekend concerts in Florida.
- (Reuters)
Convicted for staring at woman
LECCO- An Italian man was given a suspended jail sentence for staring too intensely at a woman sitting in front of him on a train.
A judge sentenced the man in his 30s, whose name was not revealed, to 10 days in prison and a €40 fine after a 55-year-old woman filed a complaint for sexual harassment.
His lawyer said he would appeal the sentence. The court will explain its verdict later. - (Reuters)