A roundup of today's other world news in brief.
Berlusconi government unveiled
ROME - Italy's prime minister-elect, Silvio Berlusconi, yesterday unveiled one of the country's most right-wing governments since the second World War.
Giulio Tremonti will return as economy minister and Franco Frattini will leave his post as European commissioner to become foreign minister in the 21-member cabinet.
Mr Berlusconi held last-minute negotiations yesterday with his main allies from the National Alliance, a party with fascist roots, and the vehemently anti-immigrant Northern League to distribute the cabinet posts. - (Reuters)
Tougher UK cannabis laws
LONDON - Cannabis will be reclassified in Britain as a class B drug with a maximum five-year jail term for users, the government said yesterday, rejecting a recommendation from its own drugs advisers to leave the classification unchanged for the drug.
Home secretary Jacqui Smith said the decision had been made because of concern, particularly among the public, about the "alarming" use of skunk, a stronger strain of the narcotic which now dominates the market. - (Reuters)
Ease off Moscow, says ex-leader
WARSAW- The West should avoid antagonising Moscow by rushing to let former Soviet states such as Ukraine join Nato or by installing an anti-missile shield in central Europe, Poland's last communist leader said yesterday.
Gen Wojciech Jaruzelski, who says he averted a Soviet invasion of Poland in 1981 by declaring martial law, said the West must show greater understanding of Russia's historic fear of encirclement by hostile powers. - (Reuters)
New drugs arrest for Winehouse
LONDON - British singer Amy Winehouse was arrested on suspicion of drug offences yesterday, police sources said.
The Grammy-winning soul singer, who was released with a caution for assault less than two weeks ago, was being held after she handed herself in at a London police station.
"At 1pm on Wednesday, a 24-year-old woman attended a London police station by arrangement," police said in a statement.
"She was arrested in connection with alleged possession of a controlled drug." - (Reuters)
Billions in aid pledged to Sudan
OSLO - Donor nations pledged a preliminary $4.8 billion (€3.12 billion) in assistance to Sudan yesterday, aiming to help bolster a 2005 north-south peace deal in the east African country, which is still torn by violence in its western Darfur region.
Sudan had said it needed $6.1 billion up to 2011, on top of $2 billion in humanitarian aid, but a deadly aerial bombing in Darfur three days ago cast a shadow over the Oslo donor conference. - (Reuters)