■ United States
Bases ban soda cans
As part of a summer promotion, some Coke
cans contain cell phones
and global positioning chips,
but officials at some military installations voiced concerns that the cans could be used
to eavesdrop, and said they
are instituting protective measures. Coca-Cola says such concerns are nothing but fizz. Asked if Coke would curtail the promotional campaign because of the alleged security issues raised, spokesman Mart Martin said, "No. There's no reason to." Winners activate the device by pushing the button, which can only call Coke's prize center, he said. "It cannot
be an eavesdropping device,"
he said. Nonetheless, military bases are restricting the cans.
■ Iraq
Murder probe held over
Proceedings against a
US captain charged with murdering an Iraqi follower
of radical Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr have been postponed while his division redeploys to Germany, the US military said yesterday. "The Article 32 investigation will reconvene in Germany in late July," the military said in a statement. Captain Rogelio Maynulet of the 1st Armored Division was charged on
June 12 with murder and dereliction of duty for the suspected killing of a follower of al-Sadr, the statement
said. On May 21, Mohammed al-Tabtabai was arrested as he headed to Najaf, 160km south of Baghdad.
■ United Kingdom
Bonnie and Clyde ride again
British police are hunting for a couple who held up a string of banks by posing as a
knife-wielding raider and his helpless female hostage, a report said yesterday. The duo, dubbed a British Bonnie and Clyde after the famous US gangster couple of the 1930s, have robbed at least six banks in the past six weeks, the Times said. The crimes have all begun with the man bursting into a bank and grabbing what appears to be a random female customer -- his accomplice -- before holding a knife to her throat and demanding that staff hand over money. Police said they had not ruled out
that the pair, described as possibly being of Eastern European origin, might even be a mother-and-son team.
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