A round-up of today's other stories in brief.
Avian flu case confirmed in Horn of Africa
DJIBOUTI - Djibouti said yesterday that one person had tested positive for the deadly H5N1 avian influenza virus in the first confirmed human case in the Horn of Africa.
"One patient and three domestic chickens have been detected with the H5N1 virus," health minister Abdallah Abdillahi Miguil said on state television.
The UN World Health Organisation (WHO) in Geneva confirmed the human case.
"There is a two-year-old girl who has been infected with H5N1. She is alive," WHO spokesman Dick Thompson said. - (Reuters)
Three oil workers kidnapped
PORT HARCOURT - Three foreign oil workers, including an Italian, were kidnapped from a car under armed escort in Nigeria's oil capital Port Harcourt yesterday, a day after a US oil executive was shot dead in the same city.
Police and industry sources said the abduction of the employees of Italian oil contractor Saipem was sparked by a dispute between the company and the community where it is working. - (Reuters)
12 years for animal rights extremists
NOTTINGHAM - Three animal rights extremists were jailed for 12 years each yesterday for their parts in a terror campaign against guinea pig breeders, in which an 82-year-old woman's body was stolen from her grave.
John Ablewhite, from Manchester, Kerry Whitburn, from Edgbaston, Birmingham, and John Smith, of Wolverhampton, were each handed the prison terms at Nottingham Crown Court after pleading guilty to a charge of conspiring to blackmail the owners of a guinea pig breeding farm in Staffordshire.
A fourth defendant, Josephine Mayo, also from Edgbaston, was jailed for four years after admitting a lesser part in the six-year campaign against the Hall family, who bred the small animals for medical research purposes.
As part of the campaign against the family, the body of Mrs Gladys Hammond, the mother-in-law of one of the Hall brothers, was stolen from her grave in a churchyard in Yoxall, Staffordshire, in October 2004. - (PA)
Mladic set to be sent to The Hague
BELGRADE - War crimes fugitive Ratko Mladic could be in detention at The Hague tribunal "in a few days", a Serbian government minister said yesterday.
Zoran Loncar, who is a member of Serbia's National Council for Co-operation with the Hague Tribunal as well as minister for local government, said he was optimistic and hopeful the wartime Bosnian Serb army commander would be handed over soon. - (Reuters)
Move to avert Iran sanctions hailed
AMSTERDAM - The head of the UN nuclear watchdog yesterday welcomed moves to avert possible UN sanctions against Tehran over its nuclear programme and appealed for compromise as Iran's president said he was ready to talk.
Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said he was pleased the UN Security Council was holding off from sanctions against Iran as Europeans work on a package of benefits to induce Tehran to co-operate. - (Reuters)
Air force retaliates against Tigers
VAVUNIYA - Sri Lanka bombed Tamil Tiger territory near their northern headquarters yesterday after rebels attacked a naval transporter with hundreds of servicemen aboard and sank another naval vessel, killing 17.
The air force scrambled fighter jets and helicopter gunships to the area in the worst military confrontation since the 2002 ceasefire. - (Reuters)