A roundup of today's other stories in brief.
Bush urged to reveal fate of detainees
LONDON - Several dozen terrorism suspects believed to have been held at secret CIA prisons are still missing, and the United States should reveal what has happened to them, a leading rights group said yesterday.
Human Rights Watch urged President Bush in an open letter to disclose the identity, fate and whereabouts of all prisoners held at secret CIA facilities since 2001.
"As you may know, the CIA's detention programme has inflicted great harm on the reputation, moral standing and integrity of the United States," it wrote. - (Reuters)
Wade claims victory in Senegal
DAKAR - Senegalese president Abdoulaye Wade has won re-election with an unassailable lead, according to results from almost all the west African country's constituencies, government sources said.
"With this score, a first-round win is secured," said one source, who asked not to be named. With 95 per cent of votes counted, Wade had won 56.08 per cent of valid votes, the sources said. - (Reuters)
Americans want Iraq withdrawal
WASHINGTON - A narrow majority of Americans favour setting a deadline for the withdrawal of US forces in Iraq, and a record number disapprove of the war, according to an ABC News/Washington Post poll.
Fifty-six per cent say US forces should be withdrawn eventually even if civil order has not been restored in Iraq. - (Reuters)
Chirac official loses corruption appeal
PARIS - A French court yesterday found a former aide to French president Jacques Chirac guilty of corruption, rejecting his appeal and upholding the original four-year suspended prison sentence.
Michel Roussin, a former minister who was Mr Chirac's chief of staff when the president was mayor of Paris, was convicted in 2005 for his role in a public contracts scam that was run while Chirac was in charge of City Hall. - (Reuters)
Journalist's jail term overturned
CAIRO - An Egyptian appeals court yesterday overturned a one-year jail term on newspaper editor Ibrahim Eissa, convicted of defaming President Hosni Mubarak, and substituted a fine of 22,500 Egyptian pounds (€3,000).
In the weekly al-Dustour, Eissa had accused the president of selling off state enterprises too cheaply and squandering foreign aid. - (Reuters)
Court criticises magazine raids
KARLSRUHE - Police raids on a journalist's home and his magazine's offices after a report about al-Qaeda in Iraq violated Germany's freedom of the press, the Federal Constitutional Court ruled.
The ruling comes 18 months after police searched the offices of Cicero monthly and the home of journalist Bruno Schirra, who had quoted from a leaked confidential document on Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, then al-Qaeda's leader in Iraq. - (Reuters)
Man hit by runaway cow
LONDON - A man remained gravely ill in hospital last night after being hit by a runaway cow which caused mayhem when it charged into a railway station.
The 43-year-old, believed to be called Andrew Truelove, was airlifted to hospital with severe head injuries after being struck by the animal as it broke free from a cattle mart in Rugby, Warwickshire. - (PA)
Teacher in Italy cut boy's tongue
MILAN - A Milan teacher cut an unruly seven-year-old pupil's tongue with scissors to silence him, police and school officials said. - (Reuters)