Vatican Radio bosses jailed

The president and director-general of Vatican Radio, the official broadcast voice of the Roman Catholic Church, have been given 10-day prison sentences because their transmitters give out too much interference, court officials said Monday. Last November an Italian magistrate asked for 15-day prison terms for Cardinal Roberto Tucci, the president, and Father Pasquale Borgomeo. The giant transmitters, which beam programmes worldwide, are located in Cesano north of Rome, where local people complained that electromagnetic pollution from them was causing health problems.
An Italian environment ministry investigation in 2001 found magnetic fields that exceeded standards and were much higher than the permitted six volts per square metre (yard) in 11 out of 14 sites checked.