World Briefs

At least two persons have been killed and another 35 people are missing after a series of blasts tore through an arms depot in the Russian city of Ulyanovsk yesterday, local news agencies reported.

Interfax news agency quoted Sergei Morozov, the governor of the Ulyanovsk region where the depot is located, as saying that over 3,000 people had been evacuated from the surrounding area.

RIA quoted an emergency ministry official as saying at least two persons had died. (Reuters)

FBI arrests Madoff computer programmers

Two former computer programmers were arrested yesterday on charges of falsifying books and helping the former financier operate a $65 billion Ponzi scheme.

The two men, Jerome O'Hara, 46, and George Perez, 43, were charged with criminal conspiracy, accused of producing false documents and trading records at Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC in New York.

Mr O'Hara and Perez were accused of knowing that the special computer programs they developed contained fraudulent information used in US and European regulatory reviews.

The Securities and Exchange Commission also filed civil charges against the pair, saying they provided the technical support necessary to produce the false documents.

Mr Madoff is serving a 150-year prison sentence after pleading guilty in March to a decades-long worldwide fraud. A Ponzi scheme is one in which early investors are paid with the money of new clients. (Reuters)

Rare iceberg spotted

A large iceberg was spotted off an island about halfway between Antarctica and Australia, a rare sight in waters so far north, Australian scientists said yesterday.

Australian Antarctic Division researchers working on Macquarie Island, about 930 miles south-east of Tasmania, first saw the iceberg last Thursday about five miles off the north-west coast of the island.

The iceberg, about 160ft high and 1,640ft long, is probably part of one of several larger icebergs that broke off Antarctica's Ross Ice Shelf between 2000 and 2002, Australian Antarctic Division glaciologist Neal Young said.

Several icebergs have been drifting slowly northward with the ocean current toward the island over the past year, but it is uncommon for them to move so far into warmer northern waters, he said.

The scientists believe the iceberg will break up and melt rapidly as it continues its journey north. Before it melts, however, it could present a danger to ships navigating the region, Mr Young said. (PA)

Radcliffe denies smoking cannabis

Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe has denied smoking cannabis at a party, after allegations appeared in British tabloid the Daily Mirror.

"We categorically deny the allegations regarding Daniel Radcliffe published in today's Daily Mirror," his spokesman said in a statement yesterday.

"Daniel does smoke the occasional roll-up cigarette, but he was not doing anything more than this. We are considering our position and will be taking all necessary action in relation to such allegations."

Mr Radcliffe, 20, shot to international fame for playing boy wizard Potter in the movie adaptations of J.K. Rowling's hugely successful series of books.

The six films to date have earned billions of dollars at the box office, and filming is under way for the two-part final instalment "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows". (Reuters)

Oil giant Total pleads guilty

French oil giant Total pleaded guilty yesterday to health and safety breaches in connection with a huge explosion at a British oil depot.

The firm's British arm Total UK entered written guilty pleas at England's Old Bailey central criminal court in London over the December 2005 inferno at Buncefield, north of the capital.

It was thought to be the biggest blaze in Europe since World War II and was caused when 300 tonnes of petrol spilled over the top of a storage tanker.

Total UK pleaded guilty to two charges under the Health and Safety Act, and one of polluting water under the Water Resources Act.

Four other companies - Hertfordshire Oil Storage Ltd, British Pipeline Agency Ltd, TAV Engineering Ltd and Motherwell Control Systems 2003 Ltd - pleaded not guilty to breaking health and safety laws.

Total is not expected to be sentenced until trials are held for the other companies.

The case was brought by the Health and Safety Executive and the Environment Agency. (AFP)

Irish priest on rape charge

The lawyer for an 81-year-old Roman Catholic priest who faces possible extradition to Ireland said the clergyman moved to the South Bend area of Indiana in 1990 to take a job counselling drug and alcohol abusers.

The Reverend Francis Markey was arrested this week at his South Bend home and faces possible extradition to Ireland on charges that he raped a teenage boy there in 1968.

Bob Truitt is a staff attorney with Federal Community Defenders and represents the priest. Mr Truitt said Rev. Markey moved to the area in 1990.

The Community Healing Centre in Niles, Michigan, said Markey worked there from 2001 until retiring in March.

The organisation's CEO says the centre was not aware of the charges against Rev. Markey until his arrest was reported this week. (PA)