■ Italy
Gangsters kill ex-mobster
A former Italian mobster who turned his back on crime after his son died of a heroin overdose, has been shot dead in the southern port city of Naples, authorities said on Tuesday. Nunzio Giuliano, 57, was killed by gangsters late on Monday near his prosperous neighborhood of Chiaia, far from the central Forcella sector where his name was synonymous with organized crime. It was one of the most high-profile mob shootings in Naples, where more than 30 people have been killed so far this year in turf wars by the Camorra -- the Naples version of the Sicilian Mafia.
■ United States
Prisoners riot, one killed
A gang-related melee broke out in the gymnasium of a privately run prison, with inmates flailing away with softball bats and other weapons, authorities said. One inmate was killed and 13 others were hurt. About 50 to 60 inmates at the Cimarron Correctional Facility were involved, said Department of Corrections spokesman Jerry Massie. The prison was locked down on Tuesday and state corrections authorities went to the scene. Two gangs were involved in the melee, which was brought under control within 10 minutes, officials said.
■ United Kingdom
Scotsman tops for SMS
A Scottish factory worker has been crowned the world's fastest text-messager after punching out a complicated message in record time. Craig Crosbie, 24, took just 48 seconds to type out the 160-character message: "The razor-toothed piranhas of the genera Serrasalmus and Pygocentrus are the most ferocious freshwater fish in the world. In reality they seldom attack a human." He beat the previous record holder by 19 seconds, Guinness World Records said on on Tuesday. Crosbie, who has been texting since the age of 16, sends about 75 messages a day.
■ Austria
Crash testers probed
Scientists who used corpses in research to develop better crash-test dummies could face criminal charges of violating the dignity of the dead, a prosecutor said on Tuesday. Horst Sigl, a prosecutor in the southern city of Graz, said authorities were investigating whether researchers at the Technical University of Graz properly obtained consent before using the corpses in the tests. The university used 21 bodies in tests carried out from 1994 to 2003, the university's spokeswoman said. She said the tests were carried out under strict ethical standards, and "never" disturbed the peace of the dead.
■ Spain
`Anti-pope of Seville' dies
A Spanish religious leader who proclaimed himself Pope Gregorius XVII has died at age 59 in Palmar de Troya near the southern city of Seville, where he had lived with followers for several decades, officials said on Tuesday. Ordained by a Vietnamese archbishop, Clemente Dominguez Gomez was never recognized by the Catholic Church. Accusing the church of having become "infiltrated by the Devil," Dominguez proclaimed himself pope in 1978, three years after losing his eyesight in a car accident. In his own "Vatican," the man known as "the anti-pope of Seville" issued a series of "papal documents," canonizing Christopher Columbus and Spain's 1939-75 dictator Francisco Franco. He also excommunicated the royal family, whom he saw as communists. Dominguez and his followers erected a basilica in Palmar de Troya, where he claimed to have seen the Virgin Mary in 1969.
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