imminent

. Officials said there was no criminal evidence against the five.

In Ukraine, the former Interior Minister Yuri Lutsenko has been detained as part of a winding investigation into allegations of abuse of office and diverting public funds. The opposition says this inquiry is a political

vendetta

launched by President Viktor Yanukovych against members of the previous government. The former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko is also under investigation. David Stern now reports from Kiev.

According to Yuri Lutsenko's press service, 11 security agents seized the former interior minister when he was walking his dog on Sunday afternoon. Authorities had opened a criminal case against Mr Lutsenko earlier this month for abuse of power. He's the latest and so far highest-profile member of Yulia Tymoshenko's government to be arrested. Mrs Tymoshenko herself saw two separate charges filed against her this last week for misuse of funds and abuse of power when she was prime minister one year ago.

The Sri Lankan government says 200 former Tamil Tiger rebels it is holding in custody have passed A-level exams, normally taken at the age of 18. They are among 5,000 former rebels the authorities say they are still holding following the Tamil Tiger's defeat last year. However, human rights groups have denied that those sitting in the exam are former fighters at all.

Researchers say they've

sequence

d most of the genetic code of a type of cocoa plant, used in making high-quality chocolate, meaning they might be able to improve its resistance to disease. The French group said they'd found almost 29,000 genes for the Criollo variety of cocoa. Criollos produce low yields and are very vulnerable to fungal disease.