World news in brief

FRANCE: Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy's lawyer slammed an investigation into his campaign finances today.

A judge filed preliminary charges against Mr Sarkozy on Thursday, formally placing him under investigation over allegations that he illegally took donations from L'Oreal cosmetics heiress Liliane Bettencourt, who is now 90 and suffers from dementia.

Militia member kills 5 colleagues

AFGHANISTAN: A member of the government-backed militia programme has shot and killed five of his colleagues.

The shooting happened on Thursday morning in a remote part of Badghis province's Qadis district.

The attacker was a member of the Afghan local police, a programme in which the government in Kabul and its international allies train and fund villagers to mount defences against insurgents.

Court lifts media gag

INDIA: A court ruled today that Indian media will now be allowed to cover the trial of four men accused in the gang rape and fatal beating of a woman on a New Delhi bus in December.

Journalists had been barred by a court order from entering the courtroom or reporting details of the trial. But the Delhi High Court lifted the gag order, allowing one representative from national Indian daily newspapers and one from local wire services.

Top rights lawyer's appeal postponed

ZIMBABWE: A court has postponed a bail appeal to release the nation's top rights lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa.

Ms Mtetwa was arrested on Sunday on allegations of obstructing justice and will spend eight nights in jail before she reappears in court on Monday.

High court judge Joseph Musakwa said today that state prosecutors need more time to go through Ms Mtetwa's papers of appeal before proceeding with the hearing. Ms Mtetwa denies any wrongdoing and says she merely asked police officers to show her a search warrant during a raid on PM Morgan Tsvangirai's staff offices in Harare.

Crossing closure

PALESTINE: The Israeli military has closed a Gaza border crossing and restricted Palestinian fishermen in the territory after militants fired rockets into Israel during President Obama's visit.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon instructed the army to close the border crossing used to transfer goods and reduce the permitted fishing zone in the seaside territory from six to three miles offshore.

Jobless rate rises

POLAND: Government statistics showed today that the unemployment rate in February rose to 14.4 per cent from 14.2 from the previous month, underlining the weakening economic situation in the country.