■ Sudan
`Janjaweed' kill 56
Arab militiamen killed at least 56 people in a raid in western Sudan, villagers said on Sunday, just days after the government declared the troubled region was stable. The militiamen, known as janjaweed, raided Abga Rajil village 50 km south of Nyala town on Saturday, witnesses said. Abdel-Rahman Rizk, 29, speaking from a Nyala hospital bed where he was recovering from a bullet wound to the thigh, said the militiamen arrived on horses, camels and a car and surrounded the village. "They were firing and people were scattering and they set fire to the houses and then they started picking off people as they ran out of their houses," he said. Ibrahim Adam, also from the village, said: "The tally of those we buried was 56. Forty of them we buried in one grave."
■ Germany
Nazi judge mars election
Former IMF head Horst Koehler was elected Germany's ninth post-war president by a special federal assembly on Sunday in a ballot marred by a row over a Nazi-era judge who sentenced World War II deserters to death. Koehler, who quit as managing director of the IMF in March to run for the largely ceremonial office, won narrowly with 604 votes from the 1,204-member assembly. The vote was tarnished by controversy over the participation of Christian Democrat delegate Hans Filbinger, a Third Reich naval judge who ordered the 1945 execution of a German sailor who tried to flee from German-occupied Norway. He also issued death sentences in absentia for two others who fled to Sweden.
■ Germany
Germans sort their trash
Three-quarters of all Germans are convinced they are the world's leaders -- when it comes to sorting garbage, according to a new survey. And a whopping 91 percent say they dutifully sort their own rubbish at home, separating paper, glass and cans from food scraps. Most respondents (61 percent) believe recycling is vital to saving the environment, according to the survey by the Allensbach Institute.
■ Germany
Alcohol keeps you awake
Possibly from the sight of snoring drunks, many people wrongly believe a little alcohol in the evening helps one relax and get to sleep quickly. Not so, warns German health insurer Techniker Krankenkasse in a health bulletin. In fact, alcohol, even a small amount, is a stimulant that interferes with sleep. Insomniacs should steer clear of the drinks cabinet for the last six hours before bedtime. The same advice applies to those with the common misconception that a mug of tea or coffee helps them sleep.
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