A round up of today's other world stories in brief
Payments to Cambodia's tribunal halted
PHNOM PENH - International donors have withheld payments to Cambodia's Khmer Rouge "Killing Fields" tribunal because of concerns about corruption, officials said yesterday.
Helen Jarvis, an Australian working on the Cambodian side of the joint Cambodian-UN tribunal, said 250 Cambodians had not been paid a total of $700,000 (€500,000) since June, threatening the future of the long-awaited court, which is running over time and budget. "It is becoming increasingly difficult for Cambodian staff," she said. - (Reuters)
Mexico deploys anti-kidnap force
MEXICO CITY - Mexico has deployed a hastily formed anti-kidnapping force after public outrage over an increase in the number of kidnappings across the country, and evidence that police officers are among the most vicious perpetrators.
The unit's 300 agents are to be paid well and regularly submitted to strict honesty tests. The deployment follows the discovery two weeks ago of the decomposing body of the 14-year-old son of a well-known businessman. - (Guardian service)
Greenpeace tries to halt trawling
BERLIN - Environmental group Greenpeace started dropping three-tonne granite rocks on the North Sea bed off Germany yesterday to try to prevent trawling which, it says, decimates marine life.
Destructive fishing methods, such as deep-net trawling near the seabed, are depleting stocks, say activists. - (Reuters)
Hizbullah policy on land approved
BEIRUT - Lebanon's new government won a vote of confidence yesterday, securing approval for a policy statement that recognises Hizbullah's right to use all means possible to regain Israeli-occupied land claimed by Lebanon.
One hundred members of the 128-seat parliament voted in support of the cabinet, formed as part of a deal that defused a deep conflict between the US-backed majority coalition headed by prime minister Fouad Siniora and an opposition alliance led by Hizbullah. - (Reuters)
Church to pay $12.7m for abuse
CHICAGO - Chicago's Roman Catholic archdiocese has said it will pay $12.7 million (€8.5 million) to settle 16 claims of sexual abuse involving 10 former priests and a school principal.
Catholic archdioceses in the US have paid nearly $2 billion to satisfy hundreds of abuse claims since the scandal broke in Boston in 1992. Some priests were found to have been shielded by church leaders. - (Reuters)