Other stories from around the world in brief
Opinion poll increase for Israeli PM
JERUSALEM - Israel's seizure of a radical Palestinian leader has pushed interim prime minister Ehud Olmert further ahead in opinion polls published ahead of an election on March 28th.
In fresh violence yesterday in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian gunmen killed an Israeli soldier involved in a raid in which the army said five militants were captured in the city of Jenin. Gunmen elsewhere in the West Bank wounded two Israeli motorists. - (Reuters)
Pinochet millions 'found by lawyer'
MIAMI - A US lawyer hired to track down hidden assets of Augusto Pinochet says he has identified more than $100 million in bank accounts linked to the former Chilean dictator.
"It's in excess of $100 million to be sure," said Pedro Martinez-Fraga of a Miami-based law firm. He was speaking at an anti- money laundering conference in Hollywood, north of Miami, yesterday. He said he had been following the money trail of Pinochet for a year and a half after being hired by the Chilean government. - (Reuters)
Woman jailed for human trafficking
NEW YORK - A woman who helped to finance immigrant smuggling schemes, including the Golden Venture freighter, has been sentenced to 35 years in prison for running a multi- million-dollar ring using violent Chinese street gangs.
Cheng Chui Ping (57), ran an enterprise that crammed immigrants into aircraft, cars and trucks with fake floors and ships with dungeon-like conditions where one bathroom served hundreds of people, trial evidence showed.
The rickety Golden Venture she helped finance ran aground off New York in 1993, killing 10 people who drowned. - (Reuters)
EU troops may go to Congo election
BERLIN - EU states are ready to offer 1,300 troops to help safeguard June elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo, German officials told a parliamentary committee yesterday, according to a source who was present.
Germany has indicated it could lead the operation but only if other member states overcame their reluctance to contribute troops. - (Reuters)
Belarus warning to opposition
MINSK - Belarus's state security has warned it will crush protests against President Alexander Lukashenko, heightening tension before his expected re-election in Sunday's poll.
Mr Lukashenko has run the former Soviet state with an iron hand for 12 years. The EU said yesterday it would extend visa bans on more Belarus officials if the poll was fraudulent. - (Reuters)
New Berlin airport gets go-ahead
BERLIN - A German court has given the long-awaited green light for a new airport in Berlin that would open in 2011 and consolidate the capital's three existing airports into a single hub.
Its decision brings to an end years of wrangling and delays, paving the way for the construction of Berlin Brandenburg International, capable of handling 22 million passengers annually. - (Reuters)
Police put stop to Italian 'joyride'
ROME - Police who stopped an erratically driven car in the Italian town of Cologno al Serio, near Milan, found a naked 70-year-old woman trying to have sex with a man 11 years her junior.
The man was three times over the legal alcohol limit, said police commander Angelo D'Anardo. "We assume they must have been drinking at lunch and then things got out of control."
Asked if the couple were married, he said he doubted it. "Married people wouldn't probably do anything like this." - (Reuters)