■ United Kingdom
War advice `not influenced'
Britain's attorney general denied on Friday that the government had played any role in his decision in 2003 that it would be legal for British forces to fight the Iraq War. Several British TV stations and newspapers have reported that Attorney General Lord Goldsmith had warned the government in a written report on March 7, 2003, that an invasion of Iraq could be deemed illegal. Blair's government has refused to publish this document despite several politicians demanding it release the advice. The attorney general is the British government's top legal adviser, but his advice is presumed to be independent.
■ Netherlands
No love for firm's Valentine
A pharmaceutical company which sent anonymous Valentine's cards to Dutch gynecologists in a publicity stunt has been forced to apologize for sparking family arguments. The doctors and their partners were furious with the company -- whose Web site says it mixes "the ingredients for health and happiness" -- after the firm sent cards saying "Now shall we tell everyone?," De Telegraaf newspaper reported Thursday. A second card was dispatched to the 800 doctors the next day explaining that the first had been a gimmick to promote a new product. In some cases, the cards caused so much distress that the company, Organon, sent apologetic bouquets of flowers, the newspaper said.
■ Netherlands
Thieves hijack armored car
Armed robbers Friday held up security staff at gunpoint and made off with an armored car containing diamonds and jewels about to be loaded aboard a flight from Amsterdam's Schiphol airport, KLM airline said. "A KLM Cargo armored car containing valuable goods was hijacked on the cargo ramp at Schiphol this morning," said a statement. "The shipment of valuables, which was on its way to a flight bound for Antwerp, consisted mainly of diamonds and jewelry." KLM security were threatened during the heist but no one was injured, it said.
■ United Kingdom
Mother poisons sick son
A British women suffering from a personality disorder was jailed for five years on Friday for killing her son by poisoning his hospital drip with salt. Petrina Stocker killed her 9-year-old son David in 2001 by spiking milk in two drip feed bottles with 18 teaspoons of salt, the Central Criminal Court in London was told. Her son had been in and out of the hospital for five months with a serious illness which could not be diagnosed, the court had heard, and doctors had planned to move him to a ward where his mother's access to him would be restricted.
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