Today's other stories in brief
Judge orders seizure of CIA chief's villa
ROME - An Italian magistrate has ordered the seizure of a villa owned by former Milan CIA station chief Robert Seldon Lady, a key suspect in the 2003 kidnapping of a Muslim cleric, judicial sources say. The seizure order for Mr Lady's villa in the Piedmont region of northern Italy was made at the request of prosecutors yesterday to guarantee eventual court costs and compensation for possible crimes.
Mr Lady is one of 32 suspects, most believed to be CIA agents, accused of abducting Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, also known as Abu Omar, from a Milan street and sending him to Egypt, where he says he was tortured. - (Reuters)
Five killed in UN raid on Haiti slum
PORT-AU-PRINCE - At least five people were killed and six wounded after a United Nations peacekeeping force raided a volatile slum in the capital of impoverished Haiti this week, UN and hospital officials said yesterday.
A UN military spokesman said the force was building up its efforts to clear the Caribbean country's most dangerous slums of criminal gangs who still hold sway in parts of Port-au-Prince. - (Reuters)
Russian arms sales to Iran defended
MOSCOW - Russia's foreign minister Sergei Lavrov says that US sanctions against Russian arms firms for weapons sales to Iran are unfounded.
Mr Lavrov, in Vladivostok yesterday, said Russia's delivery of anti-aircraft missile systems to Iran had breached no international laws and that Moscow had asked for an explanation from Washington. - (Reuters)
Dutch coalition nears completion
AMSTERDAM - Leaders from the Dutch Christian Democrats, Labour and the Christian Union should be able to reach a draft agreement on forming a coalition government by late next week, a mediator said yesterday.
Herman Wijffels will resume talks with the politicians on Monday and hopes they will be able to present their parties with the outline of a deal by the end of the week, his spokesman said. - (Reuters)
Canada apology for deporting Syrian
OTTAWA - Canada has apologised to Syrian-born Maher Arar and his family says it will compensate him with Can$10.5 million (€6.9 million) for its role in his 2002 deportation by the United States to what he has said was a year of repeated torture in a Syrian jail.
US officials deported Mr Arar after the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said he was an Islamic extremist, but an official Canadian inquiry said there was no evidence he was linked to terrorism. - (Reuters)
Some WMO funds recovered
GENEVA - The WMO, the World Meteorological Organisation, says it had recovered a tenth of the $3.4 million funds embezzled from the United Nations agency in a criminal fraud case under investigation in Switzerland.
The case, launched at WMO request three years ago after an internal inquiry uncovered fraudulent use of its fellowship funds, remains in the hands of a Geneva investigating magistrate, a spokeswoman said yesterday. - (Reuters)
Placido Domingo to sing baritone
NEW YORK - Renowned opera tenor Placido Domingo will sing baritone for the first time in 2009, realising a long-held ambition to sing the title role in Verdi's Simon Boccanegra, his representatives said.
The Spaniard, who gained international fame as one of the Three Tenors with Luciano Pavarotti and José Carreras, will perform in the role at Berlin's Staatsoper Unter den Linden. - (Reuters)