A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Eight die in German motorway pile-up
ROSTOCK – A sandstorm in northern Germany yesterday caused a huge highway pile-up that killed eight people and injured at least 41 others, police said.
Rostock police spokesman Volker Werner said rescue operations were still under way and the death toll could rise.
At least 41 people were injured, many of them seriously. – (AP)
Three children killed by milk contamination
BEIJING – Three children have died after drinking nitrite-tainted milk from two dairies in northwest China, writes Clifford Coonan, in the latest food safety scandal to hit the Chinese dairy industry.
Thirty-five people, most of them under 14, were sickened by drinking the milk tainted with the chemical, which is used for curing meat, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
“An initial investigation shows all the patients were poisoned by nitrite after drinking bulk milk provided by two local dairy farms,” the agency said.
Chechen Islamist 'alive and well'
MOSCOW – The leader of Chechnya’s Islamist insurgency has said he is alive and well after Russian forces said they might have killed him, Radio Free Europe said.
He hinted he would prove it by organising more attacks.
A man purporting to be Doku Umarov phoned Radio Free Europe late on Thursday to deny reports citing officials as saying he might have been killed in a March 28th assault on an insurgent base in the north Caucasus province of Ingushetia. – (Reuters)
Musician warned of possible jail term
LONDON – British musician Pete Doherty, best known as a member of Babyshambles and The Libertines, was warned by a judge yesterday that he could face time in prison for repeated drug offences. Doherty (32) pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine at Snaresbrook Crown Court, east London. – (PA)