Today's other stories in brief
UN court plan for Lebanese murder case
UNITED NATIONS - In a challenge to Syria, the UN Security Council voted yesterday to set up a court to prosecute the murder two years ago of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik al-Hariri.
After months of arguments between deeply divided Lebanese politicians and talks between the Beirut government and the United Nations, 10 council members supported a Western-sponsored resolution to set up the court and five abstained. There were no votes against. - (Reuters)
Putin to meet Bush in July
MOSCOW - President Vladimir Putin is to visit the US for talks with President George W. Bush, amid arguably the most serious strain in relations between Washington and Moscow since the Soviet era.
The pair will meet at the summer home of Mr Bush's father, George Bush snr, in Kennebunkport, Maine, on July 1st and 2nd. - ( Financial Times service)
Nato helicopter in Afghan crash
KABUL - A Nato helicopter crashed in southern Afghanistan yesterday, a spokesman for the International Security Assistance Force said.
The big, twin-rotored Chinook military helicopter went down in southern Afghanistan, a Nato official in Brussels said, but he had no word on casualties. - (Reuters)
US hostages freed in Nigeria
ABUJA - Four American hostages taken from Nigeria's oil-producing Niger Delta region were released yesterday after three weeks in captivity, authorities said.
The four men were taken by gunmen from a barge working for U.S. oil company Chevron off the coast of Nigeria on May 9th.
Pfizer charged over child deaths
KANO - A Nigerian state has filed criminal charges against Pfizer for its alleged role in the deaths of children who received an unapproved drug during a meningitis epidemic, court papers showed yesterday.
Pfizer said in a statement the allegations of negligence are untrue and it acted ethically when it tested the antibiotic Trovan in Kano state in 1996. The director of public prosecutions of Kano, in northern Nigeria, filed eight criminal charges before a state high court. - (Reuters)
Peres to seek presidency
JERUSALEM - Shimon Peres confirmed yesterday he will ask parliament to elect him Israel's head of state next month, taking over a mostly ceremonial role that has been overshadowed by a rape inquiry into the outgoing president.
"I have decided to answer the calls to be a candidate for the presidency," the former premier told fellow lawmakers from his centrist Kadima party a day after the party leader, prime minister Ehud Olmert, offered the elder statesman its backing. - (Reuters)
Turkey sends army to Iraq border
ANKARA - Turkey has sent large contingents of soldiers, tanks and armoured personnel carriers to reinforce its border with Iraq amid a heated debate over whether to stage a cross-border offensive to hit Kurdish rebel bases. - (Reuters)
Gold bath gets legs in Japan
TOKYO - A glittering €734 million gold bath has been stolen from a resort hotel near Tokyo.
A worker at Kominato Hotel Mikazuki in Kamogawa, south of Tokyo, notified police the bath was missing from the hotel's guest bathroom on the 10th floor of its building.
The round tub was made of 18-carat gold - ( AP)