A round-up of other news stories from around the world.
Taliban kills a dozen police in Afghanistan
KABUL - Taliban fighters have killed at least a dozen Afghan police and abducted up to 40 in two attacks in southern Afghanistan, while US-led forces launched an offensive in a nearby province, officials have said.
In the southern province of Zabul, a senior police official was killed and four other people, including two senior provincial officials, were wounded after the Taliban hit their car with a rocket on Tuesday night.
An official in Zabul said more than 10 policemen were killed in the Taliban assault. - (Reuters)
Woman reburied after desecration
LONDON - Gladys Hammond, whose grave was desecrated in one of Britain's most infamous episodes of animal rights extremism, was reburied in a private funeral in Yoxall, Staffordshire, yesterday.
The coffin of Ms Hammond, who died in 1997 aged 82, was dug up, broken into and her remains taken by protesters in October 2004 in a bid to force her son-in-law to close the farm where his business bred guinea pigs for medical research.
The remains were only discovered four weeks ago, when four animal rights extremists admitted conspiring to blackmail the farm's owners. - (PA)
Sniper convicted of six more killings
WASHINGTON DC - Washington sniper John Muhammad has been convicted of six more of the 2002 killings after a trial in which he acted as his own lawyer. The series of shootings around Washington DC terrorised the region until he and John Salvo were caught.
Muhammad (45) is already under a death sentence in Virginia for a killing there. - (Reuters)
Nepal's king to be stripped of powers
KATHMANDU - Nepal's parliament is expected to consider stripping the king of his remaining parliamentary roles, after voting to withdraw most of his powers earlier this month.
King Gyanendra reinstated parliament in April after weeks of protests against his absolute rule. Political parties soon approved sweeping curbs ending his control of the army and making him open to questioning in parliament and the courts. - (Reuters)
Italy signals stem cell backing
ROME - Italy's research minister Fabio Mussi said in Brussels on Tuesday he had withdrawn Italy's signature from a "declaration of ethics" which Italy and other countries made in November.
The declaration, signed under the government of former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, objected to using EU funds for embryonic stem cell research and created a "blocking minority" on the release of EU money for some research projects.
Some opposition politicians have called for a parliamentary vote of no confidence against Mr Mussi, who also came under attack from the Roman Catholic Church. - (Reuters)
Litter crackdown on Australians
SYDNEY - Thirty plain- clothed rangers yesterday prowled the streets of Sydney, Australia's largest city, as part of an anti-smoking and litter crackdown. The rangers have been issuing fines of Aus$60 (€36) for smokers who dump their butts in the streets instead of in designated bins. - (Reuters)
Survey says graft in Bulgaria rampant
SOFIA - Almost 80 per cent of Bulgaria's small and medium-sized companies say they have been forced to pay bribes and many consider corruption as normal for doing business, a survey has shown.
Corruption is one of Bulgaria's main hurdles to its plans to join the EU in 2007 and Brussels has warned it will delay accession by a year if it does not crack down on graft and organised crime. - (Reuters)