■SAUDI ARABIA
Cleric slams TV moguls
A senior Saudi cleric has issued a religious decree saying the owners of TV networks broadcasting “depravation and debauchery” may be killed, al-Arabiya television reported on Friday. “The owners of these channels propagate depravation and debauchery,” said Saleh al-Luhaidan, chief justice of the supreme judicial council, the highest judicial authority in the ultra-conservative Saudi kingdom. He made the remarks on radio in response to a caller who asked him to give an opinion on what he said were “immoral” programs on Arab television during the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, a source at al-Arabiya said.
■WEST BANK
Child stabbed in settlement
A Palestinian suspect stabbed a nine-year-old boy and burned down a house after sneaking into a West Bank settlement early yesterday, Israeli and Palestinian security officials said. The boy was taken to hospital after being lightly wounded in the attack, which took place at around 8am in the Yitzhar settlement, an Israeli army spokesman said. Israeli troops launched a manhunt between Yitzhar and the West Bank city of Nablus, placing three Palestinian villages under a tight curfew, Palestinian security officials said. The army was also preventing settlers from Yitzhar — a bastion of extreme right-wing Jews — from entering the villages.
■ISRAEL
French kid’s body identified
Local media reported that autopsy results on a body dragged from a Tel Aviv river confirm it is that of four-year-old French girl Rose Pizem, but the cause of death is not yet clear. Radio and TV reports said the corpse discovered by police divers on Thursday was identified on Friday by a comparison of its DNA with a sample taken from the girl’s mother, 23-year-old Marie-Charlotte Renault. Police believe that Renault’s lover, 45-year-old Roni Ron, murdered the child and the mother may also have been implicated. Both are in custody.
■GERMANY
Party treasurer convicted
The longtime treasurer of the leading far-right party was sentenced on Friday to two years and eight months in prison after pleading guilty to stealing hundreds of thousands of euros from its accounts. Erwin Kemna, 57, admitted to stealing 700,000 euros (US$984,000) from the National Democratic Party. As part of an agreement with the Muenster state court, Kemna’s guilty plea meant he was subject to a maximum three years in prison.
■NETHERLANDS
Bad dentists go on trial
Just thinking about it is enough to rattle your teeth. The local media are enthralled by the trials of two men dubbed the “horror dentists.” They were caught separately practicing without licenses — and, according to the allegations, without much skill, either. Amsterdam prosecutors say 64-year-old Hok Tong Kwee permanently ruined the teeth of at least 10 patients after losing his license in 2004. Kwee denies malpractice, saying he only took “acceptable” risks. But when prosecutors called on victims to come forward last year, hundreds responded. In the other case, 55-year-old Ben Verlinden was sentenced to four months by judges in Haarlem on Friday for mistreating four patients after having been stripped of his license in 2001. He had been banned twice before for mistakes that prosecutors said included “drilling teeth to bits.”
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