Doomsday cult members freed again

The Spanish authorities have released nineteen members of a religious cult who'd been arrested in the Canary Islands accused of planning to attempt mass suicide for the second time in a week.

Spanish radio said the group had been freed after testifying before a judge in Tenerife.

Police had earlier said that the cult members -- mainly Germans -- planned to set themselves on fire in the belief that the world was going to end.

The alleged cult leader, Heide Fittkau-Garthe, is in custody accused of attempted murder and inducement to suicide.

More than thirty of her followers were arrested with her last Wednesday but later released.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service