World Briefs

A Mercedes reported stolen by troubled actor Charlie Sheen was found crashed down a cliff near his Los Angeles home, police said.

They said there was no evidence anyone was in the car when it went into the ravine.

A Bentley was later found off the same road nearby and three other cars were reportedly broken into in the same area. Police were investigating if the incidents were linked. Police got an emergency call at around 4 a.m. from an alert system that calls emergency services when there is a problem with the vehicle that may require assistance, Officer Wendy Reyes said.

At about the same time, Sheen, 44, called police to say his four-door Mercedes-Benz had been stolen from his Sherman Oaks home.

Dalai Lama anger

China has criticised US president Barack Obama's plan to meet Tibet's spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, saying it is "resolutely" opposed to any such contact.

China accuses the Dalai Lama of pushing for Tibetan independence, which he denies. Obama will meet the Dalai Lama in Washington in the middle of this month. Every US president in the last two decades has met the exiled leader.

Base cuts about-turn

The US Army has halted plans to cut spending on its bases all over the world after concerns from soldiers and Congress that services for military families would suffer.

Secretary of the army John McHugh and army chief of staff General George Casey said the army would add $500 million to its budget for base operations and would not "short-change our soldiers and their families".

It was reported last month that the army was planning cuts as deep as 40 per cent at some bases as it sought to hold down non-war spending while escalating the fight in Afghanistan.

Shop 'till you drop

A 17ft-long panel fell from a cargo plane and landed outside a Florida shopping mall.

It happened as an Atlas Air flight from Santiago, Chile, was starting its descent at about 11.30 a.m. local time, the Federal Aviation Administration said. The panel landed in front of a Dillard's department store at the Miami International Mall in Doral. Nobody was hurt.

Torture killer jailed

An Illinois judge jailed a 37-year-old woman for 45 years for the horrific murder and torture of a pregnant woman with learning difficulties.

Madison County Circuit Judge Charles Romani was not swayed by Michelle Riley's expressions of remorse for the January 2008 death of 29-year-old Dorothy Dixon.

Investigators said Ms Dixon was abused for weeks, at times beaten with a plunger handle, burned with a hot glue gun and used for target practice with a BB pistol. A pathologist also said she had been scalded from head to toe with boiling water.

Taylor torture fine

The son of former Liberian president Charles Taylor, who commanded a brutal paramilitary unit in his father's government, was ordered by a Florida judge to pay £14.3 million in damages to five Liberians who were tortured and abused during the West African nation's bloody civil war.

The Liberians sued Charles McArthur Emmanuel, also known as Charles 'Chuckie' Taylor Jr, shortly after US citizen Emmanuel was sentenced to 97 years in prison for a criminal conviction under a US anti-torture law.

The Emmanuel criminal case was the first and so far only prosecution under that 1994 law, which allows US charges for torture committed overseas.

Mayor offends Muslim group

A Muslim group has made a civil rights complaint after a Southern California mayor said he was "growing a Christian community" in a state-of-the-city address.

In a letter to the US Justice Department, the Council on American-Islamic Relations said Lancaster mayor Rex Parris violated the civil rights of non-Christians and should not have used his official capacity to advance a particular religion.

Describing the complaint as "ludicrous", Mr Parris said he made the comment in a speech to Christian ministers at an event he paid for.

"Something very dangerous is happening in America when a profession of your faith can end up in actual government hearings," he said.

Murderer gets life

Gang leader Jesse James Hollywood was sentenced to life in prison for orchestrating the kidnap-murder of a 15-year-old boy in a case that inspired the 2007 film Alpha Dog.

Superior Court judge Brian Hill sentenced Hollywood to life without the possibility of parole in a Santa Barbara, California, court after denying a defence motion for a new trial.

Hollywood had faced a possible death penalty, but jurors recommended life after finding him guilty of first-degree murder.

Four others also were convicted in the case, including the gunman, who was sentenced to death. (PA)