A man holds a golden 20 Swiss francs coin, minted in 1895, under a magnifier during an auction in Zurich yesterday. The coin, one of only 19, was minted from gold prospected near the southern Swiss village of Gondo and has an estimated value of some 50,000 Swiss francs (€33,000). (Reuters)
Burglar 'rescued' by police
A man trying to commit a robbery in a factory in Sydney got stuck on its slippery, steep roof in pouring rain, triggering a three-hour rescue operation by police and firefighters in the early hours of Sunday.
New South Wales police said a rescue unit tried to reach the man, three storeys above ground, but it was too risky to climb onto the roof in the rain.
Firefighters then tried to get to the man with a ladder, but couldn't reach him. Another truck with a longer ladder was brought in while a police helicopter was used to light the area. (Reuters)
UAE Prince filmed torturing captives
An Abu Dhabi Prince already implicated in a torture scandal caught on tape has been filmed torturing at least 25 other people, according to a lawyer representing one of the royal's former business associates.
The Gulf emirate has vowed to investigate after ABC television on April 22 aired a video that appeared to show Sheikh Issa bin Zayed al-Nahayan, a brother of United Arab Emirates president and Abu Dhabi ruler Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahayan, mercilessly beating a man.
The footage, which sparked an outcry among human rights campaigners, was smuggled out of the UAE by Texas businessman Bassam Nabulsi, a US citizen who said he had also been tortured by Sheikh Issa after a fallout with the royal. (AFP)
Camorra chief nabbed in Naples
A senior figure in the Neapolitan mafia, the Camorra, has been arrested after spending more than six years on the run.
Raffaele Diana, who is regarded as one of the heads of the Casalesi clan, was arrested at Casal di Principe in the Caserta region. The 56-year-old had been on the list of the country's 30 most dangerous fugitives.
He was arrested in a concealed concrete basement of an apartment block. Two pistols, a silencer and ammunition were also seized during the operation. (AFP)
Iran to rights' groups: Stop interfering
Iran told international rights groups yesterday to stop interfering in the country's judicial matters by protesting against the imprisonment of US-Iranian journalist Roxana Saberi for spying.
Four US members of Reporters Without Borders started a hunger strike on Sunday outside the UN headquarters in New York to press for the release of Ms Saberi, whose father says she has been on hunger strike since April 21.
Ms Saberi, kept in Teheran's notorious Evin prison, was sentenced to eight years in prison last month on charges of spying for the United States, Iran's arch foe. The journalist's lawyer has appealed against the verdict.
"Our judiciary is independent and ... any kind of imposition or interference in the legal process is against international regulations," Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Qashqavi told a weekly news conference.
The Iran judiciary denies Ms Saberi is on hunger strike and says she is in good health. (Reuters)
Angels & Demons director sees Vatican meddling
Director Ron Howard accused the Vatican of trying to hamper the filming and the Rome roll-out of his new movie Angels & Demon, and challenged Catholic critics to see the film before condemning it.
The movie sequel to author Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code premiered in Rome yesterday, with fictional symbologist Robert Langdon returning to the big screen to help the Vatican rescue kidnapped cardinals and find a ticking time-bomb.
The Vatican was outraged by The Da Vinci Code and the Rome archdiocese made no secret about denying Mr Howard authorisation to film parts of the follow-up inside its churches.
Mr Howard said the Vatican also exerted its influence "through backchannels" to try to prevent him from shooting in areas around certain churches and got an event related to the film's premiere cancelled, he said. (Reuters)