GAZA CITY - Four Palestinian hardliners were jailed after a Gaza military court found them guilty of the kidnap and murder of Italian peace activist Vittorio Arrigoni in April last year. Mahmud al-Salfiti, 24, and Tamer al-Husasna, 26, were each sentenced to life imprisonment. Another member of the salafist group, Khadr Faruk Jerim, 26, received a 10-year prison term for kidnapping the Italian, while Amer Abu Ghola, 26, was jailed for a year for providing the house in which he was found hanged. A salafist group had threatened to kill Arrigoni within 30 hours if Hamas failed to release a group of jihadist prisoners. Arrigoni's body was found shortly afterwards, ahead of the stated deadline. AFP
ROME - Pope Benedict's former butler and a Vatican computer technician will go on trial on September 29 on charges of leaking secret papers that revealed fraud and intrigue in the Holy See. The butler, Paolo Gabriele, has told investigators he was acting as an agent for the Holy Spirit to rid the Catholic Church of "evil and corruption". He is accused of aggravated theft, which carries a sentence of up to six years in prison, in a scandal dubbed "Vatileaks" by the Italian press. Also on trial is Claudio Sciarpelletti, who, according to court papers, played a secondary messenger role in the scandal. AFP