■ Spain
Last Franco statue removed
Madrid workers yesterday removed the only statue of 1939-75 dictator Francisco Franco remaining in the Spanish capital amid applause and protests under the watchful eye of police. A public works ministry representative said the government had ordered to take the statue away to facilitate the construction of an underground tunnel and because "most Madrid residents did not appreciate it." Anti-Franco campaigners have for years called on Spain to remove statues, street names and other tributes to the general. The 7m statue on Madrid's San Juan de la Cruz square in the centrally located Nuevos Ministerios area showed Franco riding forward with a scepter in hand.
■ United States
Army captain convicted
An Army captain accused of terrorizing an Iraqi town under his supervision was convicted of assaulting Iraqis, but acquitted of charges stemming from an alleged assault of one of his own soldiers. Shawn Martin was convicted Wednesday of two assault counts and an aggravated assault count. A jury of seven officers found Martin innocent of other counts of assault, aggravated assault, obstruction of justice and conduct unbecoming of an officer. Martin had faced up to 44 1/2 years in prison and loss of his military pension if convicted of all charges. He could receive six months in prison for each assault conviction, and eight years for the aggravated assault count.
■ Spain
Pedophile suspects nabbed
More than 500 suspected pedophiles who traded material over the Internet have been arrested in 12 countries in Europe and Latin America, Spanish police coordinating the operation said yesterday. Police told reporters 19 arrests were made in Spain, with the remainder in France, Italy, Sweden, the Netherlands, Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Panama and Uruguay after thousands of pornographic images and videos featuring children were discovered.
■ Russia
Airplane crash kills 29
An airliner carrying oil workers to Russia's frigid northern coast crashed and caught fire Wednesday, killing 29 of the 53 people on board, and survivors used a satellite phone to call for rescue from the wreck site north of the Arctic Circle, government officials said. At least 10 were gravely injured. The An-24 two-engine turboprop aircraft crashed while trying to reach an airport near the oil port of Varandei in the Nenets autonomous region on Russia's Pechora Sea shoreline, some 1,800km northeast of Moscow.
RSS