■ United Kingdom
MPs ask Iraq war probe
Forty British members of Parliament (MPs) have asked UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to seek the opinion of the UN's International Court of Justice on the Iraq war's legality, the Daily Mirror reported yesterday. The cross-party group, which had written a letter to Annan dated July 20, believes Prime Minister Tony Blair's government breached the UN charter when it joined the US-led invasion of Iraq. "Lots of people have concerns about the legitimacy of the war and it seems we do need to have clarification on this," said Alan Simpson, a Labour MP. The letter said: "It is clear that in Britain and the United States, war was justified on the basis of intelligence ... which turned out to be without foundation."
■ United Kingdom
Serial murder suspect held
British police have arrested a 34-year-old man on suspicion of two double murders in northern England following a week-long search, police said Sunday. Mark Hobson was recognized by a service station owner in North Yorkshire where he tried to buy matches. "As a result of a call from the public, he was found in a field," said Deputy Chief Constable Roger Baker. The bodies of 27-year-old twin sisters Claire and Diane Sanderson were found in Camblesforth, North Yorkshire last week, on the same day as police found the blood-stained bodies of James and Joan Britton, aged 80 and 82, at their home about 40km away.
■ United States
Man dies in hospital lounge
A man was found dead on a couch in a hospital lounge in Middleburg Heights, Ohio, and a nurse told police that nobody had checked on him for at least 17 hours because he appeared to be asleep. Robert Johnson, 55, who had emphysema, was found Thursday at Southwest General Health Center, police said. A hospital spokeswoman, Kelly Stanford, said, "It's an unfortunate situation, but we're cooperating fully with all levels of investigation." The dead man's wife, Robin Johnson, said she had not seen her husband since he left home Monday after an argument. Police say he camped out at the hospital rather than return home.
■ France
`Papa' among oldest words
"Papa" may have been one of the first words uttered by babies at the dawn of humanity, according to French linguists. Scientists investigating the roots of language believe the word has been handed down through generations from an original proto-tongue spoken at least 50,000 years ago. Many of the estimated 6,000 languages now spoken share common words and meanings. Now two French researchers have found that "papa" is present in almost 700 of the 1,000 languages they have data for. The meaning of "papa" is remarkably consistent. In 71 percent of cases it means "father" or a male relative on the father's side. "There is only one explanation for the consistent meaning of the word 'papa': a common ancestry," said researcher Pierre Bancel of the Association for the Study of Linguistics and Prehistoric Anthropology in Paris.
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