News in Brief

Iran amends adultery stoning law

Afp, Teheran
Iran has amended its internationally condemned law on stoning convicted adulterers to death to allow judges to impose a different form of execution, according to the revision seen by AFP yesterday.
The controversial practice, in which stones are thrown at the partially buried offender, has provoked outcries from human rights organisations, international bodies and Western countries urging Iran to abandon it.
An article of Iran's Islamic new penal code, published earlier this week, states that, "if the possibility of carrying out the (stoning) verdict does not exist," the sentencing judge may order another form of execution pending final approval by the judiciary chief. The article does not explain what is meant by the possibility of stoning not existing.

US soldier to admit  Afghan killings

Cnn Online
In order to avoid the death penalty, US Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales intends to plead guilty in the killing of 16 Afghan villagers, his lawyer said Wednesday.
In addition to those killed, six Afghans were wounded in the March 2012 attack near a small US base in Afghanistan's Kandahar province.
The shooting spree strained already tense US-Afghan relations and intensified a debate about whether to pull out American troops ahead of their planned 2014 withdrawal.

China pipe baby out of hospital

Bbc Online
The Chinese baby boy rescued from a sewage pipe has been released from hospital to relatives, officials said yesterday.
The baby had been in hospital in Jinhua city, Zhejiang province, since being cut free from the pipe on Saturday. His 22-year-old mother, who has not been named, said the baby slipped into the toilet and went down the pipe by accident as she gave birth.

Hurricane Barbara kills 2 in Mexico

Bbc Online
Hurricane Barbara has been lashing parts of Mexico's Pacific coast after making landfall in the town of Santo Domingo Zanatapec, in Oaxaca state.
Two people have been killed in the state, the authorities say - an American surfer and a young Mexican swept away by flood waters.