THE HAGUE: A Dutch court delayed a verdict yesterday for a nurse charged with the hospital murders of 13 patients in order to reopen the investigation into the country's biggest murder case in recent history.
The court ruled the investigation of Ms Lucy de Berk, accused of killing five children and eight elderly people in her care by giving them lethal doses of drugs between February 1997 and September 2001, was incomplete. It set no date for further hearings. - (Reuters)
Bushfires rage in Sydney suburbs
SYDNEY:Firefighters battled more than 70 blazes along the drought-gripped eastern seaboard of Australia yesterday as the annual bushfire season kicked in with a vengeance, razing 10 homes on the rim of Sydney.
Fire officials said there were 47 bush and grass fires burning around Sydney alone, with the worst destroying up to 10 homes in the southern suburb of Engadine, damaging several more and forcing around 200 people to be evacuated. - (Reuters)
Experts examine wrecked tanker
MUKALLA: Yemeni and French experts searched the smouldering French-flagged Limburg yesterday for clues on whether the blast that destroyed the supertanker was an accident or a deliberate attack.
Yemen, trying to shed an image as a haven for Islamic militants, insists a fire set off Sunday's explosion on the tanker in the Gulf of Aden and not an assault similar to the October 2000 suicide bombing of the US destroyer Cole in Aden. - (Reuters)
Iranian police arrest 120 party-goers
TEHRAN: Iranian police have arrested 120 party-goers at three private gatherings in wealthy districts of the capital Tehran and charged them with mingling with the opposite sex and dancing, a newspaper reported yesterday.
The conservative daily Jam-e Jam said the unusually large haul of young lawbreakers were released after paying fines. Under Iran's strict laws, implemented after the 1979 Islamic revolution, unrelated men and women are not allowed to dance together. - (Reuters)
Warning on fake medicines
KUALA LUMPUR: Fake and low quality medicines in Asia are increasing anti-malarial drug resistance, posing major dangers to people at risk from the mosquito-borne disease, health experts warned yesterday.
While Africa is the epicentre for malaria, accounting for 90 per cent of the million or more deaths from the disease each year, Asia also suffers major effects and seems to be the main source of drug resistance, according to Mr Chris Hentschel of the Swiss-based Medicines for Malaria Venture. - (Reuters)
Basque violence suspects arrested
BILBAO: Spanish police arrested 17 people yesterday on suspicion of participating in street violence in support of armed Basque separatist group ETA, officials said.
Nine were arrested by Spain's Civil Guard police in the Basque province of Guipuzcoa, while another eight were held by Basque autonomous police in the neighbouring province of Vizcaya, the officials said. They are accused of taking part in "kale borroka", the Basque-language name for a long-running, organised campaign of street violence waged by young ETA supporters. - (Reuters)
Hunt for treasure on sunken ship
LONDON: Britain and America have agreed to launch the world's biggest-ever sunken treasure hunt - a joint mission in search of the gold on a warship that went down over 300 years ago.
The Royal Navy's HMS Sussex was engulfed by ferocious storms in the Strait of Gibraltar in February 1694 on a secret mission to bribe a fickle ally in its Nine Years' War against France. All but two of its 500 men were lost, as was the million pound pay-off, now worth close to £2.5 billion. - (Reuters)