Other stories from around the world in brief:
Turkey to debate law on 'insults'
ISTANBUL- Reforms to a controversial Turkish law used to prosecute writers and journalists will be debated in parliament soon, according to prime minister Tayyip Erdogan.
Article 301 of Turkey's penal code makes it a crime to "insult Turkishness". The EU, which Turkey wants to join, has criticised its use in trials of writers, including Nobel prize winner Orhan Pamuk.
Controversy over the law has also been fuelled by the recent murder, apparently by an ultra-nationalist, of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, who had been convicted under the law. - (Reuters)
Fewer Britons getting married
LONDON- The number of adults choosing to marry has fallen to the lowest level since records began in Britain, according to new provisional figures.
Figures released yesterday by the Office for National Statistics show the 2005 marriage rate for men was 24.2 per 1,000 unmarried men aged 16 and over, down from 27.8 in 2004.
For women, the marriage rate in 2005 was 21.6 per 1,000, down from 24.6 a year earlier. - (PA)
Poland considers US missile system
WARSAW- US president George Bush may visit Warsaw this summer for talks on installing part of a planned US missile defence system in Poland, the Polish daily Dziennik has said on Wednesday, quoting government sources.
"We're taking steps to make this visit happen," Elzbieta Jakubiak, head of President Lech Kaczynski's office, told the newspaper. I think it could be possible at the mid-year mark." - (Reuters)
Clowns killed during circus show
BOGOTA- Two clowns have been shot and killed by an unidentified gunman during their performance at a travelling circus in the eastern Colombian town of Cucuta.
The gunman burst into the Circo del Sol de Cali on Monday night and shot the clowns in front of an audience of 20 to 50 people. One of the clowns was killed instantly and the second died the next day in hospital. - (Reuters)
More time to talk to letters suspect
LONDON- Police have been given more time to question a man being held in connection with a recent spate of letter bombings.
The man, who is in his 20s, has been held by police for questioning since Monday morning after being arrested at a house in the Cherry Hinton area of Cambridge.
Media reports named him as Miles Cooper, a caretaker at Teversham Church of England primary school in Cambridge. - (Reuters)
British doctors for regular testing
LONDON- Doctors will have to undergo regular checks of their medical skills as part of a raft of measures planned to restore public trust and confidence in the profession after the case of serial killer Harold Shipman, the British government announced yesterday.
GPs will have a so-called revalidation every five years, testing their communication skills, medical knowledge and technical ability at a total cost of about £35 million each year. The tests will cover both general and specialist skills. - (Reuters)
Oops, she's quitting again
LOS ANGELES- Britney Spears was reported to have left a Malibu rehabilitation centre yesterday just 24 hours after checking herself in following weeks of troubling behaviour culminating in shaving her own head.
It was the second time in less than a week that Spears (25) had reportedly sought help at residential rehab centre and then left a day later. - (Reuters)