Pinochet, his wife, four of his children, daughter-in-law, former attorney and secretary were indicted in early 2006 on charges of filing false tax returns. Pinochet died last month without ever facing trial in either the tax evasion case or on multiple human rights charges.

Two Iraqi Justice Ministry guards are now being questioned in connection with the taping and release of a camera phone video showing the execution of Saddam Hussein, according to Iraqi lawmaker Sami al-Askeri. Iraqi officials said Wednesday that an official who supervised the execution was also arrested in connection to making the video, but further details are not yet available. The government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki launched an investigation earlier this week into who made the video and how it was distributed.

The video, apparently shot with a cell phone camera by a witness to the hanging, shows witnesses taunting Hussein before he was hanged and depicts Hussein's body dropping through the trap door of the gallows. A separate, authorized video released by Iraqi state television did not include any audio recording and did not show Hussein's actual death. AP has more.

Iraqi officials have been criticized for their handling of Hussein's execution, with a US military spokesman saying Wednesday that the US would have handled the hanging differently, but an adviser to al-Maliki insisted Wednesday that the execution had been done appropriately. Sadiq al-Rikabi said in a statement reported by the New York Times that Iraq's conduct of the execution "has been mischaracterized for political purposes." Al-Maliki's office, meanwhile, has also confirmed that the US embassy in Baghdad pressed for a delay of the execution over unresolved legal issues, but legal adviser Maryam al-Rayas called the decision to push forward with the hanging "a victory for the Iraqi government."

Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi said Tuesday that he would push the United Nations to adopt a universal ban on the death penalty after this weekend's execution of Saddam Hussein. Italy, which assumed a two-year non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council Monday, was one of 85 UN member states that in December joined together to urge the abolition of the death penalty and institute a moratorium on executions. Reuters has more.

Hussein's execution has prompted criticism from rights groups and world leaders, both for its imposition of the death penalty and the circumstances surrounding Hussein's trial and hanging. Terry Davis, Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Europe's human rights watchdog, said in a statement posted on the COE website Tuesday: "The trial of Saddam Hussein was a missed opportunity in a country which does not have many opportunities. It was an opportunity for Iraq to join the civilised world. The former Iraqi dictator was a ruthless criminal who deserved to be punished, but it was wrong to kill him.... The death penalty is cruel and barbaric, and I call on the Iraqi authorities to abolish it. It is late, but not too late, for Iraq to join the great majority of civilised and democratic countries in the world who have already abolished the death penalty."

Meanwhile the New York Times cited anonymous American officials as being "privately incensed" at how Saddam's hanging had been rushed forward in the dead of night early Saturday local time at the insistence of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and other top officials. The US officials indicated that they had been concerned with the legal process leading up to the execution, in particular the status of the constitutional requirement that a death warrant be approved by Iraq's president and vice-president, which created a problem as President Jalal Talabani, an opponent of the death penalty, refused to sign any warrant himself. A panel of Iraqi judges ultimately ruled that the constitutional provision was void in the context of the law governing the sentence handed down by the Iraqi High Tribunal, but the process was rushed. American officials also told the Times they had been concerned about the timing of the execution at the beginning of the Eid holiday.

The Times said that although the Americans had acknowledged that the execution of Saddam was an Iraqi matter, their reticence about the whole process was only heightened by the eventual video revelations of the confused and undignified manner in which it was finally conducted.

Britain is raising the legal age to purchase tobacco from 16 to 18 years, the government announced Monday.

The new age limit is aimed at helping retailers to spot underage smokers, and making it more difficult for young people to begin smoking, the government said.

"Buying cigarettes has been too easy for under-16s, and this is partly due to retailers' selling tobacco to those under the legal age," public health minister Caroline Flint said. "The law change demonstrates our determination to stop this and to reduce the number of teenagers who smoke."

The law will come into effect in October in England and Wales, the government said. The U.S., Canada, Ireland and New Zealand have similar laws.

Appalling crimes were committed by Saddam Hussein's regime. It is right that those accused of such crimes against the Iraqi people should face Iraqi justice." Finnish Minister for Foreign Affairs Erkki Tuomioja, whose country currently holds the European Union Presidency, reiterated the European Union's opposition to the use of capital punishment and that doubts were expressed about the impartiality of the trial. Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi termed Hussein's execution "tragic and a reason for sadness" on a Vatican Radio news program. In a separate statement, Lombardi also reiterated the Catholic Church's opposition to the death penalty, saying that cannot be justified "even when the person put to death is one guilty of grave crimes."

Reaction from the Arab world to Hussein's execution was mixed, drawing surprise, anger and even silence. Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi announced a three-day official mourning period and canceled all celebration of Eid, an Islamic holiday that marks the end of Ramadan. Hamas, the militant Palestinian group, condemned the execution as a political assassination that "violated international laws." Concern that the instability in Iraq will be made worse by Hussein's execution came from Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan. Kuwait and Iran, meanwhile, welcomed the death of the ousted Iraqi president since he led wars against each of those countries. Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres said Hussein had brought his punishment on himself , and another senior Israeli official quoted by AFP said simply that "justice has been done."