Today's other stories in brief
Four children among dead in pile-up fire
LONDON - Four young children and their parents died when their car burst into flames in an accident involving three lorries and another car on a motorway in Cheshire, police said.
The victims have not been identified but police said the family were from north Wales. No one else was injured. The driver of one of the lorries, a 46-year-old Portuguese man working for a Spanish company, was arrested on suspicion of dangerous driving. - (Reuters)
Journalist jailed for Islam article
KABU - Afghanistan's appeal court sentenced an Afghan journalist to 20 years in jail, commuting an earlier death sentence, for distributing an internet article that said the Prophet Mohammad had ignored the rights of women.
Perwiz Kambakhsh (23), a reporter with the Jahan-e Now daily, was sentenced to death in January. - (Reuters)
MDC calls for fresh elections
HARARE - Zimbabwe's main opposition party said only fresh elections would resolve a dispute over who controls key cabinet posts under a power-sharing pact signed with President Robert Mugabe. Mr Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, have clashed over ministries and weeks of talks failed to break the deadlock. - (Reuters)
Sarkozy voodoo doll irks president
PARIS - French president Nicolas Sarkozy has threatened to sue a publishing company unless it withdraws a Sarkozy doll that comes with a "voodoo manual" instructing readers to plant pins in it.
The doll is emblazoned with some of Mr Sarkozy's most famous quotes such as "Get lost you pathetic arsehole" - his words to a bystander who refused to shake his hand at a farm show. "Nicolas Sarkozy has instructed me to remind you that, whatever his status and fame, he has exclusive and absolute rights over his own image," lawyer Thierry Herzog wrote to publishers KB in a letter published by Le Monde. - (Reuters)