Other world stories in brief
Fatal terrorist attacks down, study reveals
UNITED NATIONS- A study released yesterday reports a decline in fatal attacks of terrorism worldwide and says US data showing sharp increases was distorted due to the inclusion of killings in Iraq.
"Even if the Iraq 'terrorism' data are included, there has still been a substantial decline in the global terrorism toll," said the Human Security Brief 2007, an annual report funded by Canada, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and Britain.
Terrorism fatalities fell by 40 per cent between July and September 2007, driven by a 55 per cent fall in the "terrorism" death toll in Iraq after the surge of US troops and a ceasefire by the Mahdi army, it said. - (Reuters)
Italy to clamp down on migrants
NAPLES- Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi's cabinet has approved tough new measures against illegal immigrants and crime despite concerns in the EU that they could fuel racism.
Interior minister Roberto Maroni said the new security laws would be rushed through parliament by the end of July. They include making illegal immigration a jailable offence, which has outraged European human rights groups and politicians.
Property rented to illegal immigrants will be confiscated and it will be a jailable offence for adults to make children beg. - (Reuters)
Austrian guilty of poisoning mayor
SPITZ- An Austrian man found guilty yesterday of poisoning his local mayor with a chocolate is to appeal a 20-year sentence, writes Derek Scally.
Helmut Osberger (56) denies leaving a strychnine- laced "Mon Cherie" chocolate on the windshield of the car of Hannes Hirtzberger, mayor of the town of Spitz, 90km (56 miles) west of Vienna.
Mr Hirtzberger has been in a vegetative state since eating the chocolate and is unlikely to recover.
25-year term for boy-band mogul
ORLANDO- Boy-band mogul Lou Pearlman, who launched the Backstreet Boys and *NSync, was sentenced to 25 years in jail yesterday for swindling investors and US banks out of more than $300 million (€190 million).
The judge gave him the chance to cut his prison time with a one-month reprieve for every $1m he helps a bankruptcy trustee recover for his victims. - (Reuters)
Charges over girl 'starved to death'
LONDON- Police said yesterday that a man and a woman had been charged with child neglect after reports that a seven-year-old girl starved to death in Birmingham.
Khyra Ishaq was taken to hospital on Saturday, where she was pronounced dead, police said. The cause of death has not been confirmed. - (Reuters)