A round-up of today's other world news in brief
Priest accused of genocide acquitted
SALAAM - A priest accused of genocide and crimes against humanity during the 1994 Rwandan genocide has been acquitted, the second release in as many days, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda said yesterday.
The UN court ordered the release of Fr Hormisdas Nsengimana (55), who was a priest at a Catholic school during the three months of slaughter of some 800,000 Tutsi and moderate Hutus.
The trial chamber said it could not conclude he was guilty of any of the crimes, which included killing Tutsi priests, a judge and other Tutsi victims. - (Reuters)
Parents foil boy's shooting plot
PARIS - The parents of a 13-year-old French schoolboy foiled his plans to kill teachers and himself with a rifle yesterday after discovering the plot on his blog.
The boy - who has not been named - set off for school from his home in Beauvais, north of Paris, with a hunting rifle and more than 20 bullets after posting a note on his blog outlining his plans, a judicial official said.
When his parents read the message they alerted the police, who immediately sent out patrols to find the boy.
On finding his school surrounded by police, the boy abandoned his weapon in a field and fled to a cafe in town, where he was later arrested, the official said. - (Reuters)
German Left leader has cancer
BERLIN - Oskar Lafontaine, a former German finance minister who helped turn the Left party into a national political force after leaving the Social Democrats (SPD) in 2005, said yesterday he has cancer and will undergo surgery.
Mr Lafontaine (66) did not provide any details about the cancer. In a statement he said he would decide at the start of 2010 on his political future, depending on his health.
Mr Lafontaine was famously dubbed "Europe's most dangerous man" by a British tabloid during his brief stint as finance minister. He quit that post after policy rows with former German chancellor Gerhard Schröder in 1999. - (Reuters)