• A trial into one of France's worst environmental disasters opened yesterday with oil giant Total facing charges over toxic fuel spills that washed ashore following the sinking of the Erika tanker in 1999. The Erika, a rusting, Maltese-registered tanker, broke in two and sank in heavy seas in the Bay of Biscay some 70 km off the French coast on December 12, 1999.

• Former Red Army Faction militant Brigitte Mohnhaupt of the Baader-Meinhof Gang is to be released from prison, after 24 years in jail for her role in killings that shook West Germany's nascent democracy in the 1970s. Ms Mohnhaupt, 57, was arrested in 1982 and sentenced to five life sentences for her role in the murders of leading German figures including industrialist Hanns Martin Schleyer and federal prosecutor Siegfried Buback.

• Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad denied that Iran is supplying sophisticated weapons to Iraqi militants and said peace would return to Iraq only when US and other foreign forces leave. "The US administration and (US President George W.) Bush are used to accusing others," Mr Ahmadinejad said in an interview with US television network ABC.

• The US and N. Korea haggled over energy aid N. Korea would receive in exchange for ending its nuclear arms ambitions but it looked like some sort of an agreement in six-part talks was emerging. An initial session of talks faltered over North Korea's demand for a huge infusion of energy aid, but envoys have raised prospects for a last-minute deal.

• The Iraqi High Court ruled that Saddam Hussein's former vice president should follow him to the gallows, despite appeals from UN officials and international human rights groups for his life to be spared. "I swear by God almighty that I am innocent and he will take revenge on everyone who oppressed me," Taha Yassin Ramadan said after he was sentenced to death by hanging for his role in the killing of 148 Shi'ites in the town of Dujail in the 1980s.

• At least 700 Taliban fighters have crossed from Pakistan into Afghanistan to reinforce guerrillas attacking a key dam, a major source of electricity and irrigation, a provincial governor said. "We have got confirmed reports that they are Pakistani, Uzbek and Chechen nationals and have sneaked in," Helmand Governor Asadullah Wafa said.

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