General News

Porn film shown on US college campus despite funding threats

Porn film shown on US college campus despite funding threats Washington  - A few hundred students gathered at a US university campus to watch a pornographic film, chanting slogans about free speech and protesting threats by a state senator to cut funding if the movie was screened.

Students of the University of Maryland watched excerpts of Pirates II: Stagnetti's Revenge on Monday night, which was followed by a discussion on free speech by lawyers and professors.

Only half an hour of the two-and-a-half-hour film was shown - but the students had made their point.

Woman suffocates to death in Moldova protest fire

Woman suffocates to death in Moldova protest fireChisinau - A young woman died of suffocation on Tuesday from a fire set by Moldovan anti-government protestors, Moldova-1 television reported, citing police sources.

The woman had been part of a group of several hundred protestors that had overrun Moldova's parliament building earlier in the day.

Smoke from fires breaking out in the building killed her, according to the unconfirmed report.

Some 60 persons had been confirmed injured in fighting between police and student protestors angry at the results of a Sunday parliament election.

US slaps sanctions on Chinese businessman and six Iranian firms

US slaps sanctions on Chinese businessman and six Iranian firms Washington  - The United States has placed sanctions on six Iranian companies and a Chinese businessman for aiding the Islamic regime's alleged pursuit of nuclear weapons, the Treasury Department said Tuesday.

The US said Li Fangwei, commercial manager of the Chinese firm LIMMT, has been violating United Nations resolutions by selling graphite and other materials to Iran for its missile programme.

Two British youngsters charged after "sickening" attack

Two British youngsters charged after "sickening" attack London - Two brothers, as young as 10 and 11, appeared in court in Britain Tuesday charged with the attempted murder of two boys of similar age who were subjected to a "sickening" attack involving bricks, a knife and burning cigarettes.

The two victims, aged 9 and 11, are continuing to receive hospital treatment after suffering serious injuries following the attack in Doncaster, in the northern county of Yorkshire, Saturday.

Arrest warrants requested for Somali pirates in German ship attack

Arrest warrants requested for Somali pirates in German ship attack Berlin  - German prosecutors applied Tuesday for arrest warrants for seven Somali pirates who attack a German naval vessel in the Gulf of Aden last month.

The group is on board a German frigate due to tie up in the Kenyan port of Mombasa on Wednesday.

Justice officials said the move was necessary, otherwise the suspects would have to have been freed when the frigate Rheinland-Pfalz docks.

German rail project cuts open Jewish grave

German rail project cuts open Jewish grave Dusseldorf - Builders doing preparatory work for a new urban rail line in Germany cut open a Jewish grave and the human remains in it were removed for safekeeping, a municipal spokesman in the western German city of Dusseldorf said Tuesday.

Strict Jewish practice forbids the exhumation of human remains. The cemetery in Dusseldorf was in use until 1789.

Rabbi Julian Chaim Soussan of Dusseldorf told the German Press Agency dpa, "In all likelihood this is a Jewish corpse."

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