Today's other stories in brief
Gaza rocket injures two in south Israel
JERUSALEM - A rocket fired from the Gaza Strip injured two people in southern Israel yesterday, Israeli medics said, making them the first casualties of a Palestinian attack since a ceasefire went into effect last month.
A spokesman for Magen David Adom medics said the two, including a 13-year-old boy, suffered moderate injuries from the rocket that struck near a home in the town of Sderot. - (Reuters)
Biden says he will run for president
WASHINGTON - Delaware senator Joseph Biden, one of the Democratic party's leading voices on foreign policy and a sharp critic of President George W. Bush's handling of the Iraq war, has said he intends to run for president in 2008. - (Reuters)
Drug-smuggling ring broken up
WARSAW - Polish and Swedish police have broken up a major drug-smuggling ring, netting $100 million worth of cocaine, according to Polish police.
The joint police operation stopped the gang attempting to smuggle 1.5 tonnes of cocaine directly from Colombian drug cartels into Poland, a police spokesman said in a statement. - (Reuters)
24 dead in fire in department store
MANILA - A fire blamed on illegally sold firecrackers swept through a department store in the Philippines on Christmas Day, killing 24 people who tried to escape in a toilet.
The blaze spread quickly from firecrackers and pyrotechnics which ignited near the entrance to the one- storey building in Ormoc city, 550km (340 miles) southeast of Manila, leaving many vendors and customers trapped inside. - (AP)
Canada deports 'Russian spy'
TORONTO - Canada has deported a man who posed as a Canadian for years, describing him as a Russian spy who used a fake birth certificate to create a false identity and accumulate three Canadian passports.
The public safety minister said yesterday that the man, who acquired passports in the name of Paul William Hampel, had left Canada for Russia. - (Reuters)
Bank robber held after 20 years
PARIS - French police have arrested a bank robber who spent 20 years on the run after taking part in one of the country's biggest hold-ups.
Miloud Hai (48) was one of a group of about a dozen armed men who robbed a branch of the Bank of France in the western town of Saint Nazaire in July 1986, escaping with 88 million francs (€13.3 million). - (Reuters)
3.5 earth tremor in Scotland
LONDON - An earthquake measuring 3.5 on the Richter scale hit Scotland yesterday morning, the largest tremor in Britain this year, the British Geological Survey said. Police said hundreds of people in Dumfries and Galloway in southern Scotland reported a tremor that shook houses. - (Reuters)
Death of poet John Heath-Stubbs
LONDON - Celebrated poet John Heath-Stubbs has died aged 88, according to a nursing home spokeswoman.
Heath-Stubbs, known for his verse influenced by classical myths, died at a nursing home in Paddington, west London, at 12.20am yesterday. - (PA)
Prescott 'fine' after hospital stay
LONDON - British deputy prime minister John Prescott is "feeling absolutely fine" after being taken to hospital on Christmas Day, his spokeswoman said yesterday.
Mr Prescott was taken to Castlehill hospital in Hull where he was treated for a kidney stone and returned home later in the day. - (PA)