Grounded ship leaks oil in Norwegian national park

OSLO, Norway (AP) -- An Icelandic container ship was spilling oil in a Norwegian national park Friday after running aground and rupturing two 250-ton fuel tanks, authorities said.

The Godafoss hit ground late Thursday in the Hvaler national park after leaving the southern port of Fredrikstad, near the Swedish border, the Norwegian Coastal Administration said.

It wasn't immediately clear how much oil spilled into the icy water, but the oil slick reached shore on Friday, rescue spokesman Lars Erik Gutubakken said.

Crews placed a boom around the ship to keep more oil from reaching land. No one was injured in the accident.

Taylor War Crimes Trial Extended

The trial of former Liberian President Charles Taylor has been suspended pending the outcome of a defense appeal seeking to get its written summary of the case accepted by the court. Mr. Taylor is on trial for 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including murder, rape and mutilation.

Friday was supposed to be the last day in the case of the prosecutor versus Charles Taylor, leaving judges to their deliberations and a likely verdict later this year. But instead, the defense got what it asked for: an extension of the proceedings until an appeals chamber decides whether or not to accept its closing trial brief.

The judges hearing Mr. Taylor's case refused to accept the 500-plus-page brief because it was filed late, but Friday they granted the defense its request to send the matter to the appeals chamber to decide.

World Food Program Steps Up Food Assistance to Victims in Sri Lanka

The World Food Program says it is stepping up food assistance to hundreds of thousands of flood victims in Sri Lanka. It says two successive waves of flooding have led to widespread destruction of rice paddies and other field crops in the affected areas.

Less than a month after severe floods devastated provinces in Eastern and North central Sri Lanka, the country has been struck by a second wave of floods. The United Nations says the magnitude and impact of these floods are worse than the first, adding to the misery of tens of thousands of people who have been made homeless and have lost their livelihoods.

Official figures put the number of people affected at more than one million. This includes nearly 200,000 who are homeless and are living in temporary evacuation centers.

Treat Muslim Brotherhood with caution, Blair urges

London (CNN) -- Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood needs to be treated with caution, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair warned Monday.

"It's not an extremist group in a way that we have seen in other countries; on the other hand, we shouldn't be complacent about it either," he said.

"It is founded on a different view of the relationship between religion and public policy than most people in secular societies would want," he argued.

"Religion is an important part of our society, its voice should be heard, but I wouldn't want to live in even a democratic theocracy," the former prime minister said at the office of his Tony Blair Faith Foundation, which works to promote multifaith understanding.