■ United States
Pit bulls go on rampage
A 10-year-old Illinois boy was in critical condition on Sunday after three pit bulls escaped from a home and went on a rampage, attacking six people before police shot and killed them. The attacks started on Saturday afternoon when children going door-to-door for a fundraiser arrived at the home of Scott Sword, 41, who owned the dogs. The pit bulls attacked the two children, and when the dogs' owner tried to stop them, the dogs bit off his thumb. The dogs went after the boy's father, and another neighbor as well. Residents threw rocks at the dogs and honked car horns to try to distract them from attacking before police arrived and shot the animals.
■ United Kingdom
Firm downplays `safe' smoke
British American Tobacco (BAT) played down claims on Sunday that it is due to launch a "safe" cigarette brand. The company said that reports that it was developing a new type of cigarette which reduced cancer risk by 90 percent compared with normal cigarettes were "misleading." Emily Brand, of BAT, said that the company had a program of research to cut down the harm caused by cigarettes and admitted that there had been trials of a cigarette which used new "trionic" filters to remove more of the thousands of harmful chemicals in smoke. BAT claims that its new cigarettes significantly reduce the amount of toxic chemicals compared with normal cigarettes.
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