Rome: The Senate has approved a law to reduce the statute of limitations for corruption and other crimes as part of a Bill which critics claimed was aimed at helping an associate of Silvio Berlusconi, the Prime Minister, avoid jail. (AP)

60 die in train fall

Kinshasa: At least 60 people were killed in a rail accident in Maniema province in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The victims, who were riding on top of the train, were knocked off by falling baggage that had snagged on the beams of a bridge. (AFP)

Suicide bombings

Chittagong: Eight people were killed and 23 badly hurt in two suicide bombings in Chittagong and Gazipur. The hardline group Jamayetul Mujahidin was blamed for what are believed to be the first attacks of this kind to hit Bangladesh. (AFP)

$1m rail nail ‘con’

Salzburg: A 35-year-old fingernail designer who had two fingers and a thumb severed by a train has been charged with deliberately putting his hands on the track to claim £680,000 insurance after running up debts of more than £100,000. (AP)

Don’t dig deep

Jakarta: Giving money to beggars at traffic lights may lead to a fine or prison sentence when a regulation is introduced in Palembang. The city’s welfare office said that the law would keep junctions “clear from street children, beggars and hawkers”. (AFP)

Head in detention

Jerusalem: Israeli police arrested a boy aged 16 after he locked his headmistress in a bombshelter to stop her from phoning his mother about his behaviour. The boy, from an ultra-Orthodox community near Tel Aviv, has been suspended from school. (AFP)

Emperor ‘was Hitler’s model’

Paris: Napoleon Bonaparte was a genocidal dictator and inspiration for Adolf Hitler, according to the French author Claude Ribbe.

As France prepares to mark the bicentenary on Friday of the emperor’s acclaimed victory at Austerlitz, Ribbe lists his alleged atrocities in The Crime of Napoleon.

He writes: “All the facts are known to historians, but are wilfully overlooked.” (AFP)

Canadian election

Ottawa: Canadians will vote on January 23 after the minority Government fell in a vote of no-confidence, Paul Martin, the Prime Minister, said. Mr Martin's Liberal Party had lost a censure vote by 171 votes to 133 amid allegations of corruption (AFP)

Robber loses foot

Tehran: An Iranian armed robber has had his left foot amputated in a prison in the southwestern city of Ahvaz. The man, identified as Adel A., had been sentenced by a Revolutionary Court to have his right hand and left foot amputated in public. (AFP)

Cheetahs rescued

Addis Ababa: US troops flew to the Ethiopian capital with two cheetah cubs rescued from a village where they had been made to fight as entertainment at a restaurant. The cubs were released in the grounds of the President’s official residence. (AP)

Thief jailed

Prague: A Russian man was given a seven-year jail sentence for stealing more than €500,000 (£342,000) from Czech and EU ministries. Sergei Morev, 38, was banned from conducting any business in the Czech Republic for seven years. (AFP)

Lap dog luxury

Tokyo: Passengers using Narita International Airport can book their pets into the four-star Pet Inn Royal, where they can stay in the lap of luxury until their owners return. Japan has 19 million pets, a million more than all the children under 15. (AP)

Till debt us do part

Tehran: A man has been ordered to pay alimony of one gold coin a month for 10,000 years. Under Iranian law the bride sets the alimony, and his wife stipulated £8.7 million in gold coins. The long payment schedule means she gets £870 a year. (AFP)

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