Italy Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi escaped a potentially devastating jail sentence when a Milan court cleared him of corruption charges after a four-year trial, a verdict which he hailed as "better late than never". Iraq A US officer who shot dead an unarmed and wounded Iraqi civilian to "put him out of his misery" was found guilty of murder, as Iraq's political parties won more time to register candidates for next month's elections. Senegal Senegal scrapped the death penalty for all crimes, a moved hailed by rights campaigners as an inspiration for other African nations. US Under pressure from US regulators, DaimlerChrysler's Chrysler Group said it was recalling more than half a million trucks over ball joint defects that can cause the wheels of the vehicle to separate from the body. Pakistan A bomb planted by suspected nationalists killed 10 people and injured at least 21 when it exploded near a military truck in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta, officials said. Portugal Portuguese President Jorge Sampaio set February 20 as the day for early elections seen as likely to replace the nation's four-month-old centre-right government. France Maxime Brunerie, a student who tried to assassinate French President Jacques Chirac at a Bastille Day parade two years ago, was convicted of attempted murder and sentenced to 10 years in jail by a Paris court.