More world news in brief.
Pillay named UN human rights chief
NEW YORK -UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon has named South African judge Navanethem Pillay as the world body's new human rights chief, succeeding outspoken Canadian Louise Arbour.
Ms Pillay is currently a judge at the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
UN diplomats and officials said the United States had opposed her appointment due to her positions on abortion and other issues but had ultimately decided not to block her. - (Reuters)
Serbia reinstates EU ambassadors
BELGRADE -Serbia's new government has decided to reinstate its ambassadors to EU member states, its second goodwill gesture to the bloc this week after the arrest of Radovan Karadzic.
Envoys were withdrawn from more than 40 states - the US, most EU countries, and some Asian and Middle Eastern nations - that recognised a declaration of independence in February by former Serbian province Kosovo, a move Belgrade calls illegal. - (Reuters)
Journalist fined for contempt
AMSTERDAM -The UN war crimes tribunal has convicted a Kosovo journalist of contempt of court for publishing details about a protected witness who testified at the trial of Kosovo's former prime minister, Ramush Haradinaj.
Judges fined Baton Haxhiu €7,000 for revealing the name and whereabouts of a prosecution witness who testified during proceedings against Mr Haradinaj, a former commander of Kosovo Albanian guerrillas who was cleared of all war crimes charges in April. - (Reuters)
Italy to pay Libya compensation
TRIPOLI -Libya and Italy will soon seal a deal worth "billions" in compensation for wrongs inflicted on Libya during the colonial era, Libyan leader Muammar Gadafy's son has said.
"In the next weeks, Libya will sign a deal with Italy on compensation for the colonial period. This deal . . . amounts to billions," Saif al-Islam al-Gadafy told a gathering of top officials in Tripoli. - (Reuters)
Latvian veteran wins ECHR case
STRASBOURG -The European Court of Human Rights has ruled in favour of a Russian second World War partisan contesting a Latvian conviction for war crimes committed under the Nazi occupation.
Vasiliy Kononov (85), a Latvian who was granted Russian citizenship in 2000, was convicted in April 2004 of murdering Latvian civilians during the war and was sentenced for a year and eight months in jail.
The case outraged many Russians, who saw him as a brave partisan fighting the Nazi armies that devastated the Soviet Union. - (Reuters)
Funfair's electric chair closed
ROME -An Italian funfair closed an attraction where a life-sized dummy was "executed" in an electric chair yesterday following protests by opponents of capital punishment.
The macabre exhibit at the Luna Park in northern Milan allowed visitors to insert coins and watch the dummy strapped to an electric chair go through his death throes - convulsing, smoking, and slumping from the simulated charge. - (Reuters)
Boy bites dog to fend off attack
SAO PAULO -An 11-year-old boy is enjoying a flash of fame in Brazil after biting a pitbull that attacked him as he played in his uncle's back yard.
Gabriel Almeida, who lives on the outskirts of Belo Horizonte in the state of Minas Gerais, broke a canine tooth when he bit into the dog's neck to fend off an attack. - (Reuters)