A Russian-born German man was sentenced to life behind bars yesterday for the brutal murder of a pregnant headscarved Egyptian woman, a crime that sparked outrage in the Muslim world.
Alex Wiens, 28, much of his face covered by a hooded top, sat motionless as the court in the eastern German city of Dresden found him guilty of murdering Marwa El-Sherbini, dubbed the "veil martyr".
On July 1, in the same courthouse, Mr Wiens had plunged an 18-centimetre (seven-inch) kitchen knife at least 16 times into Ms Sherbini, 31, and three-months pregnant at the time with her second child. Her son, three-year-old Mustafa, watched her bleed to death at the scene.
Ms Sherbini's husband, Egyptian geneticist Elwy Okaz, rushed to her aid but was also stabbed repeatedly and then shot in the leg by a police officer who was unsure who was the attacker. (AFP)
Brazil mystery blackout
Brazil yesterday sought to uncover the cause of a massive and mysterious blackout overnight, amid concerns of energy supply stability for the 2016 Olympics host nation.
The outage, which hit at 10.15 p.m. on Tuesday (0015 GMT yesterday) and lasted around four hours, plunged nearly half the country into darkness after supply problems from the country's biggest power plant.
An estimated 70 million people more than a third of Brazil's 190-million-strong population were affected, according to the energy ministry, mainly in the major southern cities, including Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.
Off-duty police were called up as thousands were trapped in immobile elevators and subway trains. Cars were forced to nose through intersections made dangerous by suddenly extinguished traffic lights. Some cafes closed out of widespread fear of a nocturnal crime wave. (AFP)
Politician's son back in jail
An Indian politician's son who murdered a fashion model was back in jail yesterday after making rowdy appearances at nightclubs in New Delhi while released on parole, police said.
Manu Sharma was briefly allowed out of prison having served less than three years of a life sentence for shooting Jessica Lal, a model and celebrity barmaid who had refused to serve him after-hours drinks at a restaurant.
Mr Sharma and his friends "along with their four armed guards, misbehaved with women" and a top policeman's son at the glamorous F-Bar of the Hotel Ashoka on Friday evening, police spokesman Rajan Bhagat told AFP.
The group were arrested after heading to the LAP Lounge Bar, another exclusive late-night venue in New Delhi, Bhagat said, adding that Mr Sharma was returned to jail on Tuesday.
Mr Sharma, son of senior Congress party figure Venod Sharma, was initially acquitted of Ms Lal's murder despite dozens of witnesses being present, but a re-trial was held after widespread public outrage and he was convicted in 2006. (AFP)
'Sins of my Father'
The last phone call Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar made before he was gunned down on a Medellin rooftop was to his son, and many thought Juan Pablo Escobar would follow in his father's footsteps.
But 16 years later, he is asking his father's victims for forgiveness by appearing in a documentary that premiers this week at Argentina's Mar del Plata film festival.
Juan Pablo Escobar fled Colom-bia in 1994, a year after his infamous father was shot dead by security forces. Since then he has led a quiet life as an architect in Buenos Aires under the name Sebastian Marroquin.
"As members of the Escobar family, we have to accept responsibility for what happened and ask for forgiveness for everything Colombia suffered because of my father's crimes," Mr Marroquin told Reuters.
Mr Marroquin, 32, said he decided to throw off the veil of anonymity in an effort to bring reconciliation to his homeland, where security forces continue to battle cocaine-smuggling gangs who stepped in to fill the void left by the big cartels of the 1980s and 1990s.
In the film Sins of my Father, Mr Marroquin tells the story of the drug lord and meets the sons of two of his most high-profile victims. (Reuters)
Chinese President offers giant pandas
China will give Singapore two giant pandas to mark 20 years of friendly ties between the two countries, Chinese President Hu Jintao said yesterday.
Hu arrived in Singapore yesterday for an annual summit of Asia-Pacific leaders, after visiting Malaysia where he made the first official visit of a Chinese leader in 15 years and signed several agreements on trade and investment.
After reviewing an honour guard upon arrival, Mr Hu met Singapore President S.R. Nathan and the city-state's founding father, Minister Mentor Lee Kwan Yew.
The gift of pandas, a popular attraction at zoos around the world, is often used by China as a diplomatic tool. China earlier this year gave two pandas Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan, whose names said together mean reunification to Taiwan, which it regards as a renegade province, as a sign of warming relations. (Reutersc