Crime-fighting leech cracks Australian cold case

If not for a lowly leech, Peter Alec Cannon might not be in the heap of trouble he’s in now. In what Australian officials are calling a first in their country — and possibly in the world — police used DNA extracted from a leech that bit Cannon eight years ago to convict him of robbing an elderly woman.

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Egyptian woman protest ban on austere veil

There’s more to wearing the “niqab” — the austere, all-covering veil favored by ultra-religious Muslim women — than meets the eye. A recent declaration by a leading Egyptian cleric that women will not be allowed to wear the niqab in university areas frequented only by women has sparked demonstrations by female students in Cairo determined to wear the all-encompassing veil wherever they go

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Peacekeeping staff kidnapped in Darfur

Two international staffers supporting the peacekeeping mission in the volatile Sudanese region of Darfur were kidnapped Saturday morning, a spokesman for the peacekeeping force told CNN. The man and the woman, whose identities and nationalities were withheld, worked for UNAMID, a U.N.

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Accused child kidnapper’s blog boasts of sound control

The man accused of abducting an 11-year-old girl in 1991 apparently maintained a blog in which he claimed to control sound with his mind. The blog now has profanity-laced responses from people outraged over Phillip Garrido’s alleged actions. Police say Garrido confessed to abducting Jaycee Lee Dugard at age 11 and fathering two children with her.

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