News In Brief

Nazi guard, 93, charged in Germany
Afp, Berlin

German prosecutors yesterday said they had charged a 93-year-old alleged former guard at the Nazi death camp Auschwitz with complicity to murder.
The accused, who was not identified by prosecutors but has been named by media as Hans Lipschis, was deported to Germany from the United States in the 1980s for failing to reveal his SS past. He was arrested in Germany in May.

Dengue outbreak kills 23 in Pakistan
Afp, Mingora

An outbreak of dengue fever in northwest Pakistan's Swat valley has killed 23 people in the past month, but health officials said yesterday it was likely to subside as the weather cools in the coming weeks.
The authorities in Swat declared a health emergency a week ago over the outbreak of the virus, spread by mosquitoes which breed in stagnant water, which has now infected 6,500 people since late August.

'Dead' Boko Haram chief appears in video
Afp, Kano

A man claiming to be the leader of Nigerian Islamist extremist group Boko Haram appeared in a video Wednesday taunting world leaders after the military said he may have been killed.
A security task force in Nigeria said last month that Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau "may have died" from a gunshot wound after a clash with soldiers on June 30.
In the video he taunts world leaders, saying they will be disappointed that he is still alive.

Rape puts China general's son in jail
Afp, Beijing

A court sentenced the teenage son of a Chinese general to 10 years in jail for rape yesterday, court authorities said, after his trial spotlighted extravagant lifestyles among the Chinese elite.
Li Tianyi, 17, and four other males were found guilty of raping a woman in a Beijing hotel in February. The case drew widespread scrutiny in the country, where the children of the elite are often seen as living lavishly or above the law due to their connections.

Three charged in British slavery probe
Afp, London

Three men have been charged following a raid by police investigating alleged slavery at several sites in Wales, local police said Wednesday.
Four people were arrested on Monday as part of Operation Imperial, which was set up when officers discovered a man living in harrowing conditions at a farm near the city of Newport, 13 years after his family reported him missing. Three men aged 66, 42 and 36 have now been charged and will appear before magistrates soon, police said.

Russian detains Greenpeace activists
Afp, Moscow

A Russian court yesterday ordered two Greenpeace activists to be detained for two months over a protest on an Arctic oil platform, as the Netherlands called for the activists' immediate release and threatened legal action against Moscow.
The first group from the 26 foreign and four Russian activists accused by Russian investigators of piracy over their September 18 protest on a Gazprom oil rig were led into the courtroom in handcuffs after being transported in prison vans.