A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Police hunting for boy's killer search wood
LONDON -Detectives hunting for the killer of 11-year-old Rhys Jones began searching a woodland area yesterday near where the boy was shot dead after receiving information from the public.
Rhys was killed outside a pub in the Croxteth area of Liverpool last Wednesday.
"Merseyside police can confirm that officers are searching Dam Wood," a police spokeswoman said.
"The search is being carried out as a result of information received by the investigation team."
She said officers were still appealing for the public to come forward. - (Reuters)
SA recalls 20m faulty condoms
JOHANNESBURG -South Africa's health department said yesterday it had recalled 20 million potentially defective condoms approved by an official accused of taking bribes from a manufacturer.
Unsafe sex is especially risky in South Africa, which has one of the world's highest HIV infection rates with an estimated 12 per cent of its 47 million people infected with the virus.
There are up to 1,000 Aids-related deaths in South Africa every day and free condom distribution is a crucial part of the government's efforts to combat the spread of the epidemic. - (Reuters)
Four charged over murder of reporter
MOSCOW -Russian prosecutors have formally charged at least four of 10 suspects detained over the murder of reporter Anna Politkovskaya, a defence lawyer was quoted as saying yesterday.
A senior editor at Politkovskaya's newspaper and a senior opposition leader accused Russia's prosecutor general, Yuri Chaika, who has said anti-Kremlin forces abroad were responsible for the murder, of playing politics.
"At the moment I am aware of four defendants who have been charged," Itar-Tass news agency quoted lawyer Murad Musayev as saying. "I can neither confirm nor deny reports that the others have been charged."
Politkovskaya, a fierce critic of the president, Vladimir Putin, was shot dead in her block of flats on October 7th. - (Reuters)
Town stops use of spray on homeless
PARIS -The conservative mayor of a Parisian suburb said yesterday he would suspend the use of a foul-smelling product against homeless people after rights groups and politicians across the spectrum attacked the measure.
Reports that the town of Argenteuil had given a pungent spray to a shopping centre to drive homeless people away from its doors have angered many French.
The League of Human Rights called the measure "disinfection of a new kind".
Conservative housing minister Christine Boutin denounced it as "an unacceptable attack on the dignity of human beings". - (Reuters)
Police called to US actor's home
LOS ANGELES -Police were called to the home of actor Owen Wilson (38) because of a report of an attempted suicide, according to a police log of weekend calls obtained yesterday. The star of Starsky and Hutchwas said to be in good condition yesterday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre in LA. He was admitted to hospital on Sunday. - (PA)
Reports of large diamond discovery
Mystery still surrounds reports yesterday of a diamond twice the size of the world's largest stone having been unearthed by a small South African mining company, with industry experts saying the claim still needs to be verified.
Brett Jolly, a shareholder of the unnamed company, said the stone, of about 7,000 carats, was found at its operation in the North-West province. - (PA)