■ United States
Man loses sperm-theft case
The Illinois Appellate Court said a man can press a claim for emotional distress after learning a former lover had used his sperm to have a baby. But he can't claim theft, the ruling said, because the sperm were hers to keep. Wednesday's ruling sends Richard Phillips' distress case back to trial court. Phillips accuses Sharon Irons of a "calculated, profound personal betrayal" after their affair six years ago, saying she secretly kept semen after they had oral sex, then used it to get pregnant. He said he didn't find out about the child for nearly two years, when Irons filed a paternity lawsuit. DNA tests confirmed Phillips was the father, the court papers state. Phillips sued Irons, claiming he has had trouble sleeping and eating and has been haunted by "feelings of being trapped in a nightmare."
■ Bosnia
Former general indicted
The UN war crimes court in The Hague has indicted former Bosnian Serb general Zdravko Tolimir for war crimes committed during the country's 1992 to 1995 war, along with two leading Serb generals involved in the 1995 Srebenica massacre, an official said on Thursday. "I have reliable information according to which [Zdravko] Tolimir's name is on the indictment [list]," Jovan Simic, an advisor to Serbia's President Boris Tadic said in Banja Luka. During the war Tolimir was deputy chief of Bosnian Serb military intelligence.
■ Canada
Bear numbers declining
A nine-year study at Banff National Park has found the area's grizzly bears have the lowest reproductive rate ever recorded in North America, scientists at the University of Calgary said. The study of 71 bears between 1994 and 2002 also found that humans were responsible for more than 75 percent of female bear deaths and 86 percent of male deaths in the period. ``Basically, we [need] to have 19 out of 20 adult female bears in their reproductive years to survive into the next year,'' said Stephen Herrero, co-author of the study. Female grizzlies do not reproduce until they are about eight-years old, and generally have litters of one or two cubs every four or five years.
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