Council object in sewage row

DUBLIN City Council want the High Court to halt a challenge to €270m works extending the capacity of the Ringsend waste water treatment plant.

The Sandymount and Merrion Residents Association (SAMRA) initiated the challenge last month due to environmental concerns about the project which will include a 9km tunnel under the sea to discharge treated effluent into Dublin Bay.

The residents want orders overturning the An Bord Pleanala (ABP) permission last November for the works.

Mr Justice Peter Charleton has reserved judgment on the council's pre-trial application.

Death toll rises in India blast

THE death toll in India's worst bombing in more than a year has risen to at least 13, while scores of people were injured.

Two bombs, attached to two bicycles about 500ft apart in the Dilsukh Nagar district of southern city Hyderabad, exploded in a crowded shopping area yesterday.

"This is a dastardly attack, the guilty will not go unpunished," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said.

Duvalier set to appear in court

A HAITIAN judge summoned former dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier to appear in court after he defied an order to attend a hearing to determine if he should again face charges for human rights abuses.

Magistrate Jean Joseph Lebrun also dismissed an appeal to take the case to the Supreme Court.

The rulings in Haiti's Court of Appeal provided some hope to a group who want the Duvalier, known as "Baby Doc" prosecuted for rights abuses.

Thousands were imprisoned, tortured or killed during his 1971-1986 regime.

Stranded baby penguin dies

A PENGUIN found stranded on a New Zealand beach more than 1,000 miles from its home has died.

The royal penguin was found on Sunday by hikers, emaciated and suffering kidney failure, and was taken to Wellington Zoo, but vets were unable to save it.

The penguin was about one-year-old, weighed 6lbs, and its sex had not been determined.