■ Italy
Accountant goes love-crazy
A love-crazy Italian, incensed because his chosen would have nothing to do with him, tried to kill her by spreading anti-snail poison around her Turin apartment, court officials said after his arrest on Saturday. The 30-year-old was detained as he left the woman's place in Turin, where she lived with her boyfriend. "She blew me away, not so much by her beauty but by her intelligence," accountant Matteo Porzio told a judge. He had snuck into the apartment and put the poison into yogurt, jam, salt and water. The couple became suspicious when they found small blue stains in the food, along with traces of footprints.
■ United States
New Mexico joins gay fray
Rural New Mexico became a second frontier in the battle over gay marriage after the county clerk offered licenses to same-sex couples before being shut down by the state attorney general. San Francisco had rocked the political world over the past week by officiating some 3,200 gay marriages in defiance of California state law. Gay and lesbian couples in Bernardillo, seat of New Mexico's Sandoval county, made a rush for the courthouse on Friday after hearing on the radio that Republican County Clerk Victoria Dunlap would issue them marriage licenses, the first in the state. Sixty-six gay couples were issued licenses and were married in the tiny courtyard behind the courthouse before Sheriff Paul Trujillo and his deputy blocked the door.
■ United Kingdom
Random drug tests planned
Schools are to be given new powers to enforce random drugs tests on pupils, similar to those enjoyed by schools in the US, British Prime Minister Tony Blair disclosed in an interview with the News of the World newspaper yesterday. "If heads believe they have a problem in their school then they should be able to do random drug testing," he said. Blair, who will be 51 in May, made clear that he intended to lead the party into the next general election, which must be held by the middle of 2006.
■ Brazil
Speaker falls on revelers
Millions of revelers hit the streets on Saturday across Brazil to celebrate the beginning of carnival, tirelessly dancing and showing off elaborate costumes. The largest party took place in the northeastern city of Recife in the state of Pernambuco, where more than a million people -- including federal ministers and other celebrities -- danced to the region's frevo music. Festivities in the business centre of Sao Paulo were overshadowed by an accident that injured five revelers when a loudspeaker fell on a float. A foreign national was hospitalized but her injuries were not life-threatening, reports said.
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