■ Egypt
Militant leader released
Egypt has released a leader of the militant group responsible for the assassination of former president Anwar Sadat after nearly 22 years in jail, police officials said on Sunday. Karam Zohdy, 51, one of the leaders of Al-Gamaa al-Islamiyya, or Islamic Group, was serving a life sentence in a tight security prison for his role in the Oct. 6, 1981, assassination. Zohdy and the Islamic Group had renounced violence, and Zohdy recently expressed regret for his role in Sadat's killing. Police officials said Zohdy was released on Thursday and returned to his hometown of Minya, 230km south of Cairo.
■ United states
Infamous director dies
Prominent US director Elia Kazan, who rose to the top of Hollywood and Broadway fame, but became embroiled in a controversy over the naming of suspected Communists during the McCarthy era, died at his Manhattan home on Sunday at the age of 94, his long-time attorney said. Floria Lasky, who served as Kazan's lawyer for over half a century, said she did not know the exact cause of death. Among his best known movies were A Streetcar Named Desire, Viva Zapata!, East of Eden and America, America. The movies On the Waterfront and Gentleman's Agreement brought him two Oscar awards. Kazan was shunned for decades by many in Hollywood for "naming names" of Communists he had met while he was a member of the party in the 1930s.
■ Canada
Hurricane on its way
Hurricane Juan headed for landfall in Nova Scotia on Sunday with sustained winds of 161kph and higher gusts, threatening wave surges of 1.5m on the coast, forecasters said. Canadian officials have issued rain and wind warnings for Nova Scotia and hurricane-force wind warnings for the waters surrounding the province. The swirling storm system, measuring about 300km wide, was expected to hit land near St. Margaret's Bay about 40km west of Halifax at around 1am GMT yesterday, dumping 5cm to 10cm of rain.
■ United kingdom
Diver walks through lake
A charity fundraiser was to plunge nearly 10m below the surface of Loch Ness yesterday -- with his life entrusted to a 60-year-old diving suit and 70-year-old maps. Lloyd Scott, last seen plodding the streets of London in a similar vintage diving suit for the 2002 London Marathon, plans to walk a marathon course on the bed of Loch Ness. The 41-year-old former firefighter will spend most of the next two weeks completing the challenge. The father-of-three, who suffered from leukaemia as a child, is setting out to raise money and awareness of the charity Children with Leukaemia. Scott had never dived until this year.
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