Washington ? Two employees of a militant animal rights group have been charged with animal cruelty for allegedly killing animals from local shelters and then dumping them in supermarket bins.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals says its staff in North Carolina, Andrew Cook (24) and Adria Hinkle (27),did nothing wrong by killing the animals, but it drew the line at the bin dumping.

Nalchik, Russia ?Shooting broke out this morning in three districts of the southern Russian city of Nalchik, as police and security forces said they were launching special operations to detain suspected Islamic militants. Shooting was heard in the suburb of Dubki, where the city's main morgue is located and where security forces were conducting a sweep for suspected rebels, said a witness.

Bucharest ? A possible new case of bird flu has been discovered in Romania, the agriculture minister said today Tuesday, three days after a deadly strain of the virus was confirmed in the country.

Agriculture Minister Gheorghe Flutur said tests still needed to be carried out to confirm if it was the H5N1 strain of avian flu that has killed more than 60 people in Asia since 2003.

According to a source, problems with initial figures transmitted to the central independent electoral commission were found in southern Shi'ite provinces as well as in Kurdish areas in the north.

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