GERMANY: German authorities have charged a Moroccan man they suspect of being linked to the September 11th attacks on the United States.
Mr Mounir El Motassadek (28) was arrested in November in Hamburg, where some members of the group of men who hijacked four airliners and crashed them into targets in the United States had lived.
Mr El Motassadek is suspected of using an account opened at a local bank by hijacker Marwan Al-Shehhi, from the United Arab Emirates, who drew money to pay for trips to the US and pilot lessons there. - (AFP)
Milosevic challenges reporter
THE HAGUE: Yugoslavia's ex-leader Mr Slobodan Milosevic, on trial for war crimes, has challenged a journalist testifying about a prison massacre in Kosovo during his rule. The former president crossed swords with BBC correspondent Jackie Rowland, attempting to discredit her testimony on Dubrava prison, where Serbian forces are accused of killing more than 50 inmates after NATO raids in May 1999. - (AFP)
British murderer gives himself up
BRITAIN: A convicted murderer who went on the run after missing an appeal hearing is back in custody after giving himself up to British police.
Richard Crawford met police at a neutral venue in Brighton. He disappeared last month after being bailed to appeal against his conviction for the rape and murder of an 87-year-old pensioner and the rape of a 79-year-old woman. - (Reuters)
More US blacks in jail than in college
NEW YORK - More black men in the US are behind bars than are in higher education, according to a new study by a Washington DC think-tank.
Following a boom in prison construction and an increase in the numbers of people being incarcerated for non-violent crimes, there were 791,600 black men in US prisons and county jails in 2000, and only 603,032 enrolled in colleges and universities. - (Guardian Service)
US comedian sacks Palestinian act
THE US: Arab-Americans accused the popular Jewish comedian Jackie Mason of "hate and racism" yesterday after a stand-up comic scheduled to be his warm-up act was told he could not perform because he was Palestinian. Ray Hanania was told his act had been dropped hours before opening at Zanies comedy club in Chicago on Tuesday night. Hanania (49), a journalist of Palestinian descent who has a Jewish wife, is a Vietnam veteran and author of the book I'm Glad I Look Like a Terrorist: Growing Up Arab in America. - (Guardian Service)
Asylum seeker to go to court over bill
AUSTRALIA: An asylum seeker released after six months in a detention centre only to be handed a bill for the equivalent of €15,000 for his time inside has taken the Australian government to court.
The charge of €87 a night is enough for four-star accommodation but Mr Shahid Qureshi was forced to make do with a cramped and doorless four-bed dormitory. - (Guardian Service)
Engineers on trial for rail crash
GERMANY: Three engineers went on trial yesterday for manslaughter in Germany's worst rail disaster when a high-speed train crashed, killing 101 people in June 1998. They face 101 counts of manslaughter and complicity in the injury of another 105 people. - (Reuters)
Skakel sentencing likely today
THE US: A judge has said Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel's sentencing for the 1975 murder of Martha Moxley would probably continue into today. Skakel (41) was convicted in June of beating Moxley to death with a golf club in Greenwich when they were 15-year-old neighbours.- (AP)