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A judge has given an 11-year prison sentence to a millionaire who inflicted years of abuse on two Indonesian housekeepers held as virtual slaves in her Long Island mansion.

Varsha Sabhnani, who also was born in Indonesia, was convicted with her husband in December on a 12-count federal indictment that included forced labor, conspiracy, involuntary servitude and harboring aliens.

As Sen. Barack Obama opens his campaign as the first African American on a major party presidential ticket, nearly half of all Americans say race relations in the country are in bad shape and three in 10 acknowledge feelings of racial prejudice, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.
Lingering racial bias affects the public's assessments of the Democrat from Illinois, but offsetting advantages and Sen. John McCain's age could be bigger factors in determining the next occupant of the White House.

Turkey's restrictions on free speech came under the spotlight when prosecutors launched an inquiry after a student said on a television programme that she did not like Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the modern Turkish state.

Nuray Bezirgan also expressed admiration for the leader of Iran's Islamic revolution, Ayatollah Khomeini. She now faces possible charges under law 5816, "crimes committed against Atatürk", after her comments last week on the popular show Teke Tek. If convicted, she could be jailed for up to four-and-a-half years.

Parents will be given official guidance about when to allow their children to drink alcohol, under a Government crackdown on boozing teenagers.
They will be told what age they should let youngsters try drinking, how much and what kind of parental supervision is appropriate.

At the same time, bar staff and off-licence workers will challenge anyone who looks under 21 before selling them alcohol.

Firefighters have contained a large fire which ravaged a theme park at the world-famous Universal Studios in Los Angeles, California.

At least 300 firefighters fought the blaze, which injured three people, after it began before dawn on a sound stage featuring New York facades.

The fire destroyed a King Kong exhibit and a set from Back to the Future.

It also damaged a video library but the studios said they had duplicates of everything lost.