Ian Bisbie, a Blue Banana director said the company does not usually fire employees by text message, but had no other alternative after phoning Tanner five or six times and calling her boyfriend.

The company also defended the sacking-by-text message as a way to keep modern.

"We are a youth business and our staff are all part of the youth culture that uses (text) messaging as a major means of communication," Bisbie said in a statement e-mailed to the South Wales Echo newspaper. "Therefore as we wished to spare Miss Tanner the embarrassment and expense of coming into the store only to be sent straight home again, it was decided this was the best course of action to take."

Tanner said the text firing was unfair and it should have been done face to face.

"It was totally out of the blue," she said. "I don't think you can count it as official by text."

Police have sent personal belongings and other samples from the French man and several women, including his wife and a Filipina maid, to the National Institute of Scientific Investigation for DNA testing.

Based on the initial outcome of DNA tests, police said last week that the French man was the father of the babies. The man has reportedly refused to accept the test results.

On Monday, police said the wife should be investigated as a suspect.

"DNA tests indicate the wife is believed to be the mother of the dead babies," said Kim Gap-Sik, chief investigator at the police station in an area known as Little France, home to hundreds of French residents in South Korea.

"We want to investigate the wife as a suspect," he said, adding French authorities would be asked to cooperate.

The couple arrived in South Korea in August 2002. They left for France in June for summer vacation.

Kim did not say when the dead babies were put in the freezer but said: "We believe the babies have not been abandoned this year."

Russia signed $1-billion contracts on supplies of 30 Su-30 Flanker air-superiority fighters and 30 helicopters to Venezuela in July prior to the visit to Russia by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who has moved to curb American influence in the region and consolidate ties with other South American nations since he came to power in 1998.

The Russian Foreign Ministry slammed the U.S. sanctions Friday saying, "Our companies stand accused of violating the Iran Nonproliferation Act of 2000. We consider these actions by the U.S. State Department unacceptable."

"Russian companies cooperating with other countries in the military-technical sphere are acting in strict compliance with the rules of international law, as well as Russian law, including Russia's obligations on nuclear nonproliferation and export control," the ministry said.

The source in the Defense Ministry also said the U.S. accusations that the Russian companies were supplying technologies, which Iran could use to produce weapons of mass destruction, were groundless.

"They [the companies] have violated no international obligations and the U.S. is well aware of this," he said.

The source called the U.S. sanctions "dishonest competition on the arms market."

Some countries, led by the United States, suspect Tehran of pursuing a secret weapons program. Iran has consistently stated that it only wants nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.

Submitted by RIA Novosti via its New York Bureau

The Russian companies denied the U.S. accusations and the Foreign Ministry slammed the sanctions Friday saying, "Our companies stand accused of violating the Iran Nonproliferation Act of 2000. We consider these actions by the U.S. State Department unacceptable."

Some countries, led by the United States, suspect Tehran of pursuing a secret weapons program. Iran has consistently stated that it only wants nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.

"Russian companies cooperating with other countries in the military-technical sphere are acting in strict compliance with the rules of international law, as well as Russian law, including Russia's obligations on nuclear nonproliferation and export control," the ministry said.

A high-ranking source in the Russian Defense Ministry on Saturday called the sanctions "dishonest competition on the arms market."

It is not clear which researchers were given the data and how they intended to use it.

The AOL search data was posted about 10 days ago but was not widely known outside the research community until blogs began pointing to AOL's research site on Sunday.

Copies circulating

AOL removed the file, but not before copies were already circulating on the internet.

The data file had information on 19 million queries and included information on what search terms were used, when the search was conducted and whether the user clicked on any of the results.

"We're angry and upset about it," AOL spokesman Andrew Weinstein said.

He said that AOL should have vetted the data before releasing it.

Ari Schwartz, deputy director of the technology watchdog group Center for Democracy and Technology, praised AOL for responding quickly.

"We're glad to hear that AOL is treating this as a serious incident because it is a serious incident," he told the Associated Press news agency.