Today's other stories in brief
Frozen assets reported on way to N Korea
VIENNA - North Korea says a planned visit by UN nuclear monitors is on hold because it has not received unfrozen bank funds, shaking hopes that Pyongyang would start disabling its nuclear bomb programme soon.
However, Russia said yesterday the $25 million (€18.6 million), released as part of North Korea's nuclear disarmament deal with five powers, was on its way to a North Korean account in a bank in Russia. - ( Reuters)
Beirut says camp battles are over
BEIRUT - Lebanon has declared victory in its 33-day war against an al-Qaeda- inspired militant group at a Palestinian refugee camp and says its military operation there is over.
The fighting between the army and militants holed up in the Nahr al-Bared camp was the worst outbreak of violence in Lebanon since the end its civil war 17 years ago and cost the lives of at least 166 people. - (Reuters)
Church's 'uncritical tolerance' concern
BERLIN - Germany's top cardinal has spoken out against "uncritical tolerance" which could lead to Islam enjoying equal standing with Christianity in the country.
Cardinal Karl Lehmann, head of the German conference of bishops, expressed concern about religious freedom leading to all faiths being treated equally, regardless of the size of their flock and their history. Germany's constitution obliges the state to maintain strict religious neutrality. - (Reuters)
Niger Delta hostages released
YENAGOA - Nigerian troops have killed 12 suspected militants and freed an unspecified number of hostages in a dawn raid on an Italian-operated oil facility in the Niger Delta.
Italian oil giant Eni had said 16 Nigerian oil workers and 11 soldiers were being held hostage at the Ogbainbiri flow station since Sunday, but the army said yesterday only 11 oil workers were found there. - (Reuters)
Restrictions on cannabis buying
AMSTERDAM - Buying cannabis in the Dutch city of Maastricht will soon mean having fingerprints taken, faces scanned and biometric data recorded.
All 15 coffee shops in the southern city are spending about €100,000 installing a security system that makes it harder for an under-age cannabis smoker to enter a shop than a terrorist to set foot in Europe. - (Reuters)
Bin Laden titled as Rushdie response
ISLAMABAD - A group of hardline Pakistani Muslim clerics has bestowed a religious title on Osama bin Laden in response to a British knighthood for the author Salman Rushdie.
Rushdie, whose novel The Satanic Verses outraged many Muslims around the world, was awarded a knighthood last week in Queen Elizabeth's birthday honours list. - (Reuters)