Diego Maradona had some time on his hands on Tuesday, until Italian tax police near Naples took two Rolex watches the Argentine soccer legend was wearing, to chip away at a â,¬30-million (,5-million) unpaid income tax bill. ”We were surprised he was wearing them because he knows that when he comes to Italy he risks losing something,” said tax policeman Geremia Guercia.
Australian researchers have launched a search for the country’s ugliest sheep — no matter how wrinkled, lumpy, bald or just plain funny looking — to try to identify genes that produce high quality wool. ”When something goes really wrong with the genes, it is the most powerful indicator about where to look to identify the genes that can — paradoxically — make things go really right,” said Paul Hynd.
The head of the Medical Research Council (MRC), Professor Anthony MBewu, on Wednesday dismissed as incorrect a set of minutes recording that he agreed to be a medical investigator in Matthias Rath’s South African vitamin campaign. The minutes, compiled by Rath aides, are part of a set of documents recording contact between the controversial German and the MRC in 2004.
Zimbabwe will not back down on proposed changes to its mining laws which will give the state a majority stake in foreign-owned firms. "There is no going back on the 51% mining ownership structure policy structure for the government and 49% for outsiders," said Junior Mines Minister Tinos Rusere.
Police on Thursday arrested a suspected Taliban militant entering a provincial capital in restive southern Afghanistan with explosives loaded on a donkey, officials said. "Police had reports that some explosives were being brought into the city on a donkey," the government spokesperson in troubled Zabul, Gulab Shah Alikhail, told Agence France-Presse.
The Arab League expressed anxiety on Thursday over the ongoing violence in Somalia and urged the warring sides to immediately end hostilities, saying it was prepared to help restore calm in the country. "The Arab League expresses deep anxiety and regret over the deaths and injuries of a number of Somali citizens," the pan-Arab body said.
On May 23 1960, when Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion announced to the Knesset that ”Adolf Eichmann, one of the greatest Nazi war criminals, is in Israeli custody”, United States and West German intelligence services reacted to the stunning news not with joy but alarm.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has announced the killing of the al-Qaeda chief in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, al-Iraqiya state television reported. According to an official, Jordanian-born al-Zarqawi was ”presiding over a meeting of his terrorist group” at the time of the operation.
The United States Senate blocked on Wednesday a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, defeating a measure strongly backed by President George Bush and Christian conservatives. With a 49-48 vote, the measure fell well short of the two-thirds majority needed to move to a formal vote in the 100-member Senate.
For the first time in 21 years, the top four seeds have reached the semifinals of the French Open in Paris. And while many purists may be hoping for a dream Roger Federer-Rafael Nadal final, two very in-form players are determined to spoil the party.