■ United Kingdom
Straw attacks French
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has accused French leaders of suffering from an anti-American "neurosis," a tabloid newspaper reported yesterday, adding that Straw had triggered an "astonishing diplomatic row." The Daily Mail, quoting Straw's comments to a documentary to be screened on BBC television tomorrow, reported Straw had argued tensions between Paris and London had blown up after French President Jacques Chirac was let "off the leash" by winning last year's elections and no longer having to "co-habit" with a socialist prime minister. "Suddenly you had a right-wing government which was literally off the leash," Straw was quoted as saying.
■ Canada
Hells Angels plead guilty
Nine men linked to the Hells Angels biker gang pleaded guilty on Thursday to reduced charges in their trial involving organized crime and gang warfare in Quebec. They had been charged with first-degree murder, but entered guilty pleas to charges of gangsterism, drug trafficking and conspiracy to commit murder. Three other defendants will face a new trial on first-degree murder charges. The plea bargain followed an adjournment this week in the trial for the 12 defendants rounded up in police raids on biker gangs in March 2001. A battle for control of the Quebec drug trade between the Hells Angels and a rival gang killed more than 150 people in the decade before the raids.
■ United Kingdom
Music keeps brain young
Scientists revealed on Thursday that members of a British symphony orchestra had more little grey cells than ordinary people in a part of the brain known as Broca's area. Vanessa Sluming of the University of Liverpool told the British Association of Science's meeting in Salford, England, that although this area declines with age, orchestral players kept more of their brain cells than non-players as they aged.
■ United Kingdom
Middle class turns to crime
Europe's middle classes are turning to crime, committing offences like cheating on taxes in the belief they themselves had been victimized, researchers said on Thursday. A survey in England, Wales and Germany showed that many people are cynical and self-interested and have no qualms about padding insurance claims, taking items from work, paying in cash to avoid tax or claiming refunds to which they are not entitled. According to the researchers the people most likely to commit crimes were of a higher social class, employed, good earners, had Internet access and were males.
Agencies
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