Other stories from around the world in brief
Friend of 9/11 hijack leaders is released
BERLIN - A friend of the September 11th hijack leaders, convicted on terrorism charges in Germany, was unexpectedly freed from jail yesterday pending the outcome of appeals against his sentence.
Mounir El Motassadeq (31) was released from prison in Hamburg after the constitutional court upheld a defence motion that he be freed while the appeals process continues.
He could yet return to jail if the separate federal court handling the appeals decides to uphold the seven-year sentence he received last August after being found guilty of belonging to a terrorist organisation. - (Reuters)
Militants execute Iraqi general
DUBAI - A militant group says it has executed an Iraqi special forces general and posted a video of the captive on the internet yesterday.
The Army of Ansar al- Sunna video showed the man in military uniform identifying himself as Dera Mohammad Mahrous. "I work at the command of the special forces," he said, adding that he lived in the northern city of Kirkuk. - (Reuters)
Two Palestinians killed in air strike
TEL AVIV - Israeli defence minister Shaul Mofaz said Israel would keep targeting Palestinian armed groups just hours before an air strike killed two men in Gaza, said by the army to be members of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.
Israel has killed nine Palestinians this week, mostly Islamic Jihad and al- Aqsa members, in response to rocket attacks, one of which injured a baby. - (Guardian service)
Sweden plans for oil-free
STOCKHOLM - Sweden is to take the biggest energy step of any advanced western economy by trying to wean itself off oil completely within 15 years without building new nuclear power stations.
The attempt by the country of nine million people to become the world's first practically oil- free economy is being planned by a committee of industrialists, academics, farmers, car-makers, civil servants and others, who will report to parliament in several months.
The intention, the Swedish government said yesterday, is to replace all fossil fuels with renewables before climate change destroys economies and growing oil scarcity leads to huge new price rises. - (Guardian service)
Trial of Turkish journalists on hold
ISTANBUL - A Turkish court has put off the trial of five prominent journalists until April in a case seen as a fresh test of curbs on freedom of expression. The columnists are charged over comments they made about an Istanbul conference in September on the massacre of Armenians during the first World War. - (Reuters)