Fake Dutch 'moon rock' revealed

A treasured piece at the Dutch national museum, a supposed moon rock from the first manned lunar landing, is nothing more than petrified wood, curators say.
It was given to former Prime Minister Willem Drees during a goodwill tour by the three Apollo-11 astronauts shortly after their moon mission in 1969.
When Mr Drees died, the rock went on display at the Amsterdam museum.
At one point it was insured for around $500,000 (£308,000), but tests have proved it was not the genuine article.
The Rijksmuseum, which is perhaps better known for paintings by artists such as Rembrandt, says it will keep the piece as a curiosity.
"It's a good story, with some questions that are still unanswered," Xandra van Gelder, who oversaw the investigation that proved the piece was a fake, was quoted as saying by the Associated Press news agency.
"We can laugh about it."
The "rock" had originally been been vetted through a phone call to Nasa, she added.
The US agency gave moon rocks to more than 100 countries following lunar missions in the 1970s.
US officials said they had no explanation for the Dutch discovery.

Guantanamo inmates' Portugal move

Two Syrian nationals held at the US detention centre in Guantanamo Bay have been transferred to Portugal.
The two detainees from the Cuban facility, who arrived in Portugal on Friday, have not yet been named.
The US has asked European countries to accommodate former inmates who cannot return to their countries of origin because of the risk of persecution.
France, Germany and Italy are among some of the countries that have agreed to take them in.
The two Syrian detainees "are not subject to any charge, they are free people and are living in homes provided by [the] state," Portuguese officials were quoted as saying by AFP news agency.
US President Barack Obama has promised to close Guantanamo Bay facility by January 2010. It was opened by the Bush administration in 2002 to house suspected terrorists.
Although more than 540 detainees have departed Guantanamo for other countries, some 220 reportedly remain in the Cuban facility.

Travel chaos after Majorca bomb

Eyewitness describes bombing A car bombing in the Spanish island of Majorca has killed two Civil Guard officers and led to ports and airports being shut for several hours. Thousands of tourists were affected as some flights were turned back or diverted to other Spanish islands. Spain said the blockade was meant to "prevent the terrorists from fleeing". The bomb blast, in Palmanova, comes only a day after a similar attack at a barracks in Burgos, northern Spain, left 46 people injured. The government has blamed both on the Basque separatist group Eta. The group has been held responsible for more than 820 deaths during its decades-long campaign for an independent homeland in Spain's Basque region. The bombs come ahead of the 50th anniversary of Eta's founding, on Friday. Map of where the bomb struck A spokeswoman for the Civil Guards told the AFP news agency that the two officers killed in Thursday's attack had been inside a patrol car parked outside the El Foc barracks when the bomb exploded, just before 1400 (1200 GMT).Several other people were also said to have been injured by the blast, which happened in a busy area where there is also a post office and health centre. Spain's Interior Minister, Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba, blamed Eta for the attack. "We have always known that they are murderers and savages. Always," he told TVE Internacional. "Today, we also know that they are murderers, savages and crazed. "And this does not make them stronger, but it undoubtedly makes them more dangerous," he added. High season In the hours after the blast, police ordered that no planes, ships or pleasure boats leave the island while they hunted for the bombers. Dozens of outbound flights were affected. The car bombing in Burgos caused extensive damage but no deaths Meanwhile, incoming flights were being diverted. British tour operator Thomson Holidays was forced to call two flights back to the UK and said two others were being diverted to other Spanish islands. The move comes at the height of the tourist season. Majorca depends heavily on tourism. Its airport in Palma is Spain's third busiest. The airport was later reopened, but the authorities did not say why their policy had changed. The European Union's Commission expressed its "firmest condemnation of the barbaric attack" and said Spaniards had its "complete solidarity... in the fight against terrorism". Dave Wilkinson, who was having lunch at a restaurant in the area at the time of the blast, told the BBC that he had heard a loud explosion and seen a black plume of smoke rising. "We ran around the corner to see what had happened and saw a car on fire parked on the left-hand side of the road," he said. "Across the road, there was a man lying on the floor and another two people with him doing CPR. "A police car came and officers said to get back as there may be another bomb and that the area wasn't safe. Two or three helicopters were circling over the area," he added. No warning Security sources told the Spanish news agency, Efe, that the bomb had probably been planted underneath the patrol car and had been detonated when the officers got into the vehicle or turned on the engine. A similar method was used in Eta's last fatal bombing in June, when a senior police officer was killed by a car bomb in the city of Bilbao, in the Basque Country. Thursday's attack was the deadliest since two Spanish undercover policemen were shot during an operation in south-western France in December 2007. The powerful car bomb blast which hit a police barracks in Burgos on Wednesday caused extensive damage but only minor injuries. There was no claim of responsibility, but local politicians and police were quick to blame Eta, saying it was an attempt to take lives and cause maximum damage.

Ukraine general 'killed reporter'

A former Ukrainian general suspected of carrying out the high-profile murder of journalist Georgiy Gongadze has reportedly confessed to the killing.
A senior police official said Oleksiy Pukach had also implicated senior political figures in the murder.
Mr Gongadze's decapitated body was found in a forest in September 2000.
Three others - all former policemen - were jailed for the murder last year but Gen Pukach remained on the run until his capture on Tuesday.
Mr Gongadze was an investigative journalist who had exposed high-level corruption.He was abducted in 2000 and his body was found months later. He had been beaten and strangled, his body doused in petrol and burned.
Prosecutors allege that Gen Pukach - who was detained near the capital, Kiev - organised the abduction and personally strangled Mr Gongadze.
Gen Pukach was the chief of the interior ministry's surveillance department at the time of the killing.
Three others were jailed for the murder last year.
Mykola Protasov was given a sentence of 13 years, while Valeriy Kostenko and Oleksandr Popovych were each handed 12-year terms.
Tape recordings
But Mr Gongadze's family has always claimed someone more senior was behind the killing.
His widow, Myroslava, told the BBC's Europe Today programme: "For me and Ukraine it's a very important step in bringing justice to my husband... and generally to society. It's a cleansing process.
"He knows the name of people who ordered the crime," she went on.
"The thing is, it's easy to mention names, but it's not that easy to collect all the evidence to present in court against instigators and organisers."
Secret tape recordings released soon after the killing appeared to implicate the then-President, Leonid Kuchma.
In the recordings - made secretly by a member of his personal guard and then released by an opposition politician - Mr Kuchma allegedly discussed ways of removing the journalist, with a former interior minister, Yuri Kravchenko.
The latter was later found dead and was said to have committed suicide.
Mr Kuchma did not deny the voice in the recordings was his, but insisted it was doctored to make him appear to say things he did not actually say.
The scandal prompted massive street protests against Mr Kuchma's government. He was later overturned in Ukraine's Orange Revolution.

Turkey smoke ban extends to bars

Turkey has extended an existing ban on smoking in public places to all bars, cafes and restaurants.

The ban has come into force despite opposition from some bar and cafe owners who fear losing business.
It comes after the government banned smoking from most enclosed public spaces in May last year in an effort to improve the nation's health.
Turkey has more than 20 million smokers but polls suggest 95% of people support the ban.
"We are working to protect our future, to save our youth," said Health Minister Recep Akdag.
Anyone caught lighting up in a designated smoke-free area faces a fine of 69 liras ($45:£28) while bar owners who fail to enforce the ban could be fined from 560 liras for a first offence up to 5,600 liras.
Local authorities have hired thousands of extra staff to track down smokers and impose the fines.
Many people in Istanbul said they thought the ban was a good move.
"We were being destroyed in the places where you were allowed to smoke inside," said Istanbul cafe patron Hanife Demirm.
"I was choosing the non-smoking places automatically, but after the ban is extended I will not need to be selective. I'll be very comfortable in every place that I go," he told the AP news agency.

'Unnecessary stress'

But the BBC's David O'Byrne in Istanbul says many Turkish people see the ban as an erosion of their democratic rights and have called for bars to be able to apply for a smoking licence.
Some cafe owners have also said they were concerned the ban would drive away customers.
"They will simply leave and never come back, or we would get in trouble for letting them smoke," said Istanbul cafe owner Selahattin Nar.
"Then both we and they would be filled with unnecessary stresses. In the end they will not be able to relax and we will have to shut down."
But Mr Akdag said there was no reason for cafe and bar owners to be worried about a drop in trade.
"The public supports a smoke-free environment and the only ones to suffer will be the cigarette producers and sellers," he said.
A no smoking rule has been in place for the past 15 months in government offices, workplaces, shopping malls, schools and hospitals.
All forms of public transport, including trains, taxis and ferries, are also affected but there are exemptions for special zones in psychiatric hospitals and prisons.