A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Bhutto warrant request to be withdrawn
KARACHI -A Pakistani high court has ordered authorities to withdraw a request to Interpol to issue arrest warrants for exiled former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, her lawyer has said.
The court order came yesterday as speculation in Pakistan mounted that Ms Bhutto could forge a powersharing deal with President Pervez Musharraf, the army chief who has been besieged in recent weeks by militant violence and political setbacks.
Last year, the government had asked Interpol to issue arrest warrants for Ms Bhutto after filing a complaint with a lower court that she had misreported her assets to election authorities in 1996. - (Reuters)
Sudan told to hand over minister
CANBERRA -The Sudanese government must hand over for trial the man accused of masterminding the Darfur massacre or risk becoming a pariah nation, the International Criminal Court (ICC) chief prosecutor said yesterday.
Luis Moreno-Ocampo, speaking after Darfur rebel groups agreed a platform for peace negotiations with Khartoum, said any peace deal would have to respect international law and ICC warrants for the arrest of Sudanese minister Ahmad Harun. - (Reuters)
Rowling fails in bid to ban photo
LONDON - Harry Potterauthor JK Rowling has failed in a legal bid to ban publication of a photograph taken in the street of one of her children.
The picture, showing Rowling and her husband with their son David, was taken by a photographer using a long-range lens and appeared in the Sunday Expressmagazine to illustrate an article about her approach to family life.
The author - under her real name Joanne Murray - and her husband, Dr Neil Murray, brought a high court action in their son's name against Express Newspapers and the Big Pictures agency, which supplied the image. - (PA)
Stolen Picasso paintings found
PARIS -French officials have found two Picasso paintings which were stolen from the Paris home of the Spanish painter's granddaughter in February, French daily Le Figarosaid yesterday, adding that the thieves had been arrested.
Police discovered the pictures of the artist's daughter Maya and his second wife Jacqueline, together valued at €50 million, in Paris. - (Reuters)
Virus spreads in Dutch livestock
AMSTERDAM -The bluetongue virus, which affects sheep and cows, has spread to the centre and east of the Netherlands, affecting 117 farms, according to the agriculture ministry.
The disease, which causes fever and mouth ulcers and sometimes turns the animal's tongue blue, broke out two weeks ago. It is transmitted by insects and can be highly dangerous to sheep but does not affect humans. - (Reuters)
Legal bid claims Tintin is 'racist'
BRUSSELS -A Congolese student has launched legal action in Belgium to have the comic book Tintin in the Congo declared racist and removed from bookstores.
"I want to put an end to sales of this cartoon book in shops, both for children and for adults. It's racist and it is filled with colonial-era propaganda," said Mbutu Mondondo Bienvenu, who lives in Brussels. - (Reuters)
3 killed in rebel attack in India
GUWAHATI -At least three people were killed and 25 wounded when separatist rebels triggered four blasts in India's northeastern state of Assam yesterday.
Police blamed the attacks on the United Liberation Front of Asom, which is fighting for a separate country for the state's nearly 27 million people. - (Reuters)