The Israeli government was looking on Wednesday to accelerate its preparations for the pull-out from the Gaza Strip as Prime Minister Ariel Sharon voiced concern about the state of readiness. Sharon was chairing a meeting of a committee specially formed to prepare for the pull-out.
Claiming invasion of privacy and humiliation, a staff attorney for a United States senator has filed suit against a woman who published details of their sexual relationship on her blog, or web log. Robert Steinbuch, a counsel for Republican Senator Michael DeWine, filed the civil suit on Monday.
British authorities said on Wednesday they have received more than 500 calls to help them identify a mystery piano player who was found wandering on an English beach last month, but have still not found out who he is. The young, blond-haired man was found soaked to the skin but fully dressed in an elegant black suit.
A woman was found shot dead and three children died in a fire after an attack on their Mitchells Plain home on Wednesday, Western Cape police said. An unknown number of people allegedly set the house in Chrysler Street, Beacon Valley, on fire after trying to gain entry to it at about 4am.
A magistrate dropped assault charges against Kenyan First Lady Lucy Kibaki after the attorney general said neither police nor prosecutors have had time to investigate whether she had slapped a television news cameraman on World Press Freedom Day. ”I’m so disappointed,” the cameraman said after hearing the ruling.
Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson doesn’t want to talk about Malcolm Glazer, the club’s new American owner. But Ferguson does want to make one thing clear: he’s still in charge of the team. Appearing at a news conference on Wednesday, Ferguson avoided questions about the £790,3-million takeover.
A social worker testified on Tuesday at Michael Jackson’s child-molestation trial that she met privately with the accuser and his family during the time they claim they were Jackson’s captives, and they praised the singer and denied any sexual abuse. She said the accuser told her that Jackson ”never touched me”.
Rescuers searched on Wednesday for dozens of people reported missing after a ferry carrying about 250 people capsized during a storm in central Bangladesh, killing at least two people, police and rescue officials said. Meanwhile, the death toll from tropical storms that battered northern and central Bangladesh reached 23 on Wednesday.
The case of two men arrested last year on weapons of mass destruction charges was transferred to Pretoria during their appearance in the Vanderbijlpark Regional Court on Wednesday. A court official said the two made a brief appearance and the case was transferred to the Pretoria High Court for August 22.
The rate of global computer software piracy fell marginally last year, but its cost jumped because of overall growth in the software industry and the devaluation of the dollar, according a report released by the United States Business Software Alliance on Wednesday. The rate of piracy slowed to an average of 35% around the world in 2004.