Marbella’s mayors trade insults
Malaga: Spanish prosecutors opened an inquiry yesterday into allegations of corruption, misuse of public funds and abuse of power after the former and present mayors of Marbella traded insults. Jesús Gil y Gil and his successor, Julián Muñoz, clashed on Salsa Rosa (Pink Sauce), a television show.
Gil, the former president of Atlético Madrid, was given a 3½ -year jail term in February over the stock market flotation of the football club. He has appealed. He was given a jail term in 1999 over an Atlético shirt sponsorship deal with Marbella. The men accused each other of seeking to grab control of the resort, and bribery. (AFP)
Advertisement
Kampala: 156 children held by rebels in northern Uganda have been reunited with their parents, a military spokesman said. The Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) is accused of killing six people travelling in an ambulance in Katakwi district on Saturday. Members are also thought to have hacked nine people to death as they slept in Gulu district last week. The LRA has been fighting President Museveni’s Government since 1988. (AFP)
Peace talks held to treason trial
Banda Aceh: Two rebel negotiators on trial for treason in Indonesia told a court that they had been seeking peace when they were arrested. Tengku Muhammad Usman, 67, and Amni bin Ahmad Marzuki, 37, were held en route to Tokyo to join talks between the Indonesian Government and rebels from the province of Aceh. They were freed, but rearrested as soon as talks broke down. (AFP)
Advertisement
Muslim separatist leader dead
Cotabato City: Salamat Hashim, the chairman of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, (MILF), the biggest Muslim separatist group in the Philippines, is dead, an official said. He died on July 13 in Butig in the province of Lanao Del Sur, according to Gadzali Jaafar, the MILF political affairs chief. Talks between the group and the Government in Manila aimed at ending 25 years of unrest have been delayed. (AFP)
Mobiles ‘worse’ than drink driving
Sydney: Motorists using mobile phones are twice as dangerous on the roads as drink-drivers, but most are unaware of the grave risk they pose. Researchers from the emergency department of the Royal Melbourne Hospital found that drivers who use hand-held mobile phones are four times more likely than other drivers to have a collision — double the risk of drivers who exceed the blood alcohol limit. (AFP)