AT CINEMAS EVE 10 METRO Wednesday, October 28, 2009 D METROWorld Police in Belarus collect evidence near the wreckage of a BAe 125 jet in a forest near Minsk airport early yesterday. The corporate jet, operated by the Russian firm S-Air, crashed killing all six people on board Picture: AFP america: A tour of a haunted house ended with one last fright when a policeman pulled a gun on a guide dressed as the killer from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Sgt Eric Janik, 37, was suspended and charged with assault for allegedly pointing the weapon at Mike Morrison in the House of Screams in Baltimore. I was shaking pretty bad, said Mr Morrison. Scientologists convicted of defrauding membersBy NICOLAS VAUX-MONTAGNy A COURT has convicted the Church of Scientology in France of organised fraud and fined it more than 600,000, but stopped short of banning the group as prosecutors had demanded. The groups French branch immedi- ately announced it would appeal. Investigators said it pressured mem- bers into paying large sums for ques- tionable financial gain and used com- mercial harassment against recruits. The original complaint came from a young woman who took out loans and spent 21,000 on books, courses and purification packages after be- ing recruited in 1998. When she sought her money back and to leave, its leadership refused. She was one of three plaintiffs. The group and its library were fined 600,000. Four of its leaders were given suspended sentences of ten months to two years, while two more were fined 1,000 and 2,000. The verdict is an Inquisition of modern times, said Scientology spokeswoman Agnes Bron. Catherine Picard, the head of an as- sociation that helps victims of sects, said: Scientology can no longer hide behind freedom of conscience. The LA-based group, founded in 1954 by the late science fiction writer L Ron Hubbard, and whose most fa- mous follower is actor Tom Cruise, has been active for decades in Europe. But it has struggled to gain status as a religion outside the US. It is consid- ered a sect in France and has faced prosecution and difficulties register- ing its activities in many countries. Inquisition: Agnes Bron america: Police believe a dozen people watched a 15-year-old girl being beaten and gang-raped outside her high school homecoming dance without reporting it. Two suspects were in custody but as many as five other men attacked the girl outside Richmond High School in California. Manuel Ortega, 19, was arrested at the scene and was being held on $800,000 (535,000) bail on rape and robbery charges. A 15-year-old student was also arrested. The victim is in hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. The girl had left the dance to meet her father for a lift home when a classmate invited her to join a group who were drinking. Officers found the girl semi- conscious after receiving a tip about a possible assault. czech republic: The countrys constitutional court opened a hearing yesterday that may remove one of the last remaining obstacles to the ratification of the EUs Lisbon treaty. It is the only country in the 27-member union not to have ratified the treaty. A group of Senate members, loyal to President Vaclav Klaus (pictured) have filed a complaint against the treaty, which they see as an infringement of the countrys sovereignty. Mr Klaus has also demanded an opt-out from a charter of rights attached to the treaty before he signs. North Korea: A South Korean man who worked at Samsung Electronics semiconductor unit and at a pig farm has defected to the North by walking across the demilitarised buffer zone that divides the peninsula. Defections to the impoverished North from the affluent South are rare, with the last one thought to have taken place about four years ago. The rival Koreas remain technically at war because they never replaced the armistice ending their 1950-53 conflict with a peace treaty. The defector was identified as 30-year-old Kang Dong-rim, by the Norths KCNA news agency. It said he was beside himself with joy for having accomplished this heroic deed. South Koreas military and spy agency could not immediately confirm the report. iraN: EU foreign ministers expressed frustration yesterday at Irans failure to respond clearly to a UN deal on nuclear fuel processing. Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki (pictured) said earlier this week that Iran could endorse the deal, in the first positive response to the agreement reached in Geneva on October 1 with six world powers. UN inspectors are visiting a uranium-enrichment site under construction near the city of Qom to verify Tehrans assertion that the plant was designed to make fuel for electricity, not weapons. index.html2.html3.html4.html5.html6.html7.html8.html9.html10.html11.html12.html13.html14.html15.html16.html17.html18.html19.html20.html21.html22.html23.html