A round-up of other stories from around the world.
Oil workers held hostage in Ecuador
QUITO - Protesters demanding a greater share of Ecuador's oil wealth held 24 pipeline workers hostage yesterday, a day after protests shut down Ecuador's main private pipeline and left three people wounded.
"Right now we are really worried about their safety," said an official with the privately-owned OCP pipeline who declined to be named. - (Reuters)
27 Muslims killed in reprisals
ONITSHA, Nigeria - Revenge attacks against Muslims killed at least 27 people in southeastern Nigeria yesterday after anti-Christian violence killed dozens and left thousands homeless in the mainly Muslim north.
The slaughter raised the death toll from five days of religious riots fuelled by political tensions in Africa's most populous country to at least 73. - (Reuters)
Congo elections set for June KINSHASA - Congo plans to hold legislative and presidential elections on June 18th, the electoral commission said yesterday, a move welcomed by international observers.
Democratic Republic of Congo's parliament approved an electoral law late on Tuesday which will allow the country to hold its first independent elections in four decades. - (Reuters)
Civil partnerships popular in UK
LONDON - There were 3,648 civil partnerships - so-called gay weddings - in the UK during the first six weeks in which they became legal, government statisticians said yesterday.
The figures reveal that twice as many men as women entered into partnerships. - (Reuters)
Opposition decries army election role
KAMPALA - Uganda's opposition complained on the eve of today's election that the deployment of 12,000 army reservists across the east African nation was intended to intimidate voters who do not back President Yoweri Museveni. The government has cast the measure as a necessary precaution given sporadic violence in the run-up to Uganda's first multi-party elections in 25 years. - (Reuters)
Kazakhstan chief quits over murder
ASTANA - Kazakhstan's state security chief has tendered his resignation following the arrest of five of his agents over the murder of an opposition politician, a security source said yesterday. - (Reuters)
Teenage guitarist bounces to death
SINGAPORE - A teenage guitarist got so carried away while bouncing up and down on his bed mimicking a rock star that he flew out of a third floor window to his death, a Singapore newspaper reported. The Straits Times said Li Xiao Meng, a 16-year-old from China, liked to jump up and down while playing guitar in his hostel room. - (Reuters)