10 METRO Tuesday, September 22, 2009 D Clearstream affair as a political weapon. Mr Sarkozy claims Villepin was behind a smear campaign aimed at thwarting his bid for the 2007 presidential election. Mr Sarkozy is one of 40 plaintiffs in the trial, which will also delve into old international arms deals, offshore bank accounts and the French aviation and defence industries. Villepin, who is accused of complic- ity in slander and complicity in forgery, denies wrongdoing, but the trial could dash the political ambitions of the eloquent diplomat known for his 2003 UN speech urging the US not to invade Iraq. I will emerge free and clear, he said. I know that truth will triumph. METROWorld AmericA: An insane killer has been recaptured, three days after he slipped away from the staff of a mental institution during a trip to a county fair. With a helicopter overhead and dozens of law-enforcement officers swarming around Goldendale, Phillip Paul, 47, gave himself up to police on a highway in Washington state. Detectives drove up to him in an undercover van and ordered him to lie down on the ground. Paul (pictured) was committed after he was diagnosed as schizophrenic and acquitted by reason of insanity in the slaying of a woman in 1987. He soaked her body in gasoline to throw off search dogs. AUSTrALiA: Two teenagers who found almost AU$100,000 (60,000) in cash during a fishing trip have handed it in to police. The pair discovered the money near the New South Wales town of Nimbin a centre of hippie culture where numerous communes celebrate a festival to promote cannabis. Police Insp Greg Moore said: It could be proceeds of ill-gotten gains. ThAiLAnd: Three men posing as customers stole $1.7million (1.16million) worth of jewels from a gems fair the biggest heist in recent memory in the country. The men entered a booth at the Bangkok Gems & Jewellery Fair and asked the vendor to open a display case containing nearly 100 items, then distracted her and ran off with it. It was not immediately clear how the men, believed to be of Middle Eastern descent, managed to slip past security at the convention hall. The case contained 60 rings, 28 bracelets, four necklaces and five amulets. The most expensive item was a ruby and mixed gem ring worth two million baht (41,000). indiA: A 6.3-magnitude earthquake shook the remote mountain nation of Bhutan and Assam state yesterday, sending people running into the streets, and damaging schools and homes. Officials in Bhutan are still trying to measure the damage from the quake. There are no reports of loss of life, but some buildings and schools have been damaged, said Sherap Tenzing, a top official in Bhutans Munggar district, near the epicentre of the quake. I dragged my family out [of their third floor apartment], said Sadeq Hazarika, an Assam state official who lives in Gauhati. We saw our building developing a big crack. This was the biggest tremor I felt in many years. iSrAeL: The option of a military response to Tehrans nuclear programme is still on the table, a senior official said yesterday. Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said on Sunday that Israeli president Shimon Peres (pictured) had assured him Iran would not be attacked by Israel. But asked to comment yesterday, deputy foreign minister Danny Ayalon said there was no guarantee Israel would not launch a strike on Iran. I dont think that, with all due respect, the Russian president is authorised to speak for Israel and certainly we have not taken any option off the table, said Mr Ayalon. GermAny: A teenager shot by police after storming his school armed with an axe, knives and petrol bombs, wounding nine students and a teacher, has awoken from a medically induced coma. The 18-year-old was responsive but has not yet been questioned about last weeks attack. The prosecutors office plans to charge him with ten counts of attempted murder. The boy entered his school in Ansbach, Bavaria, shortly after classes started, threw petrol bombs into a classroom and attacked students with an axe. Police shot him five times in the upper body. Two girls who suffered the most serious wounds to the head have been taken off the critical list. PAKiSTAn: An Islamist militant leader, accused by India of masterminding last years Mumbai attack, has been prevented from leaving his home. India wants Pakistan to prosecute Hafiz Mohammad Saeed (pictured), founder of the outlawed Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group, before it resumes a peace process broken off after last Novembers assault on Mumbai in which 166 people were killed. Police took position outside Mr Saeeds residence in the eastern city of Lahore, and his aides said he was barred from leaving to lead prayers for the Muslim Eid al-Fitr festival. Ex French PM goes on trial for slanderBy verena von derschauForMer Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin lashed out at French Presi- dent Nicolas Sarkozy yesterday at the start of a slander trial involving alleged dirty tricks by top politicians and businessmen. I am here because of the determina- tion of one man. Nicolas Sarkozy, Villepin said at the start of the trial. He suggested Mr Sarkozy was using the trial in Frances so-calleddetermined: sarkozy accused: villepin index.html2.html3.html4.html5.html6.html7.html8.html9.html10.html11.html12.html13.html14.html15.html16.html17.html18.html19.html20.html21.html22.html23.html