■ United States
Pantless pranksters detained
From the waist up, they looked like perfectly normal commuters. That wasn't good enough for police. Eight pranksters who dropped their pants and showed their underwear on the subway on Sunday were taken into custody and issued summonses for disorderly conduct. All were ultimately released, said Improv Everywhere, the group that organized the stunt. The group said more than 160 riders participated in the fifth annual No Pants Subway Ride before police halted their No. 6 train about 5pm. Charlie Todd, who founded Improv Everywhere in 2001, said it's not his group's intent to offend. He said he wants to create scenes of chaos and joy in public places around New York.
■ Turkey
Case against author dropped
A court dropped a controversial case against best-selling author Orhan Pamuk for insulting Turkish identity after the justice ministry said it had no authority to try him, CNN Turk TV said on Sunday. Ruling on a case that has been condemned by the EU, the justice ministry told Istanbul's Sisli court it had had no authority under the revised penal code to pursue the trial. Pamuk was charged under article 301 of the new penal code, which forbids insulting the Turkish identity, after he said in a Swiss newspaper interview that no one dared discuss the massacre of a million Armenians in Turkey during World War I.
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