A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Personal data taken on 26m US veterans
WASHINGTON - Personal data on 26.5 million US veterans was stolen from the residence of a department of veterans affairs employee, who was not authorised to take the material home, exposing the veterans to possible identity theft, the department said yesterday.
The data included names, social security numbers and dates of birth for the military veterans and some spouses. As yet there has been no indication of any identity theft. The FBI said the theft occurred in the Maryland area. - (Reuters)
Arrest of al-Qaeda operative claimed
AMMAN - Jordanian security authorities have arrested a senior al-Qaeda operative thought to be behind a spate of kidnappings and killing of foreigners and other acts of violence, the state news agency said yesterday.
A security official said the man was an aide to Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the al-Qaeda leader in Iraq. - (Reuters)
Hamas battle police in Gaza
JERUSALEM - Heavy fighting between Hamas and the Palestinian police in Gaza City left a Jordanian man dead as rival security forces claimed to be in charge of the streets.
A driver at the Jordanian diplomatic mission in Gaza, Khaled Radaida (45), was killed and 11 people wounded when shooting erupted outside the Palestinian parliament building.
Forces loyal to Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas blamed the fighting on Hamas militiamen but Hamas said "suspicious figures" had attacked first, implying that Fatah provoked the confrontation. - (Guardian service)
Flights cancelled over volcano ash
MIAMI - Many Caribbean flights were cancelled after a long-rumbling volcano on the British Caribbean territory of Montserrat belched a dense plume of ash into the sky at the weekend, officials said.
Sue Loughlin, director of the Montserrat Volcano Observatory, said a large dome of hard lava that had gathered at the top of the volcano collapsed in an explosion on Saturday; ash initially rose to 18,288m (60,000 ft), she said. - (Reuters)
WHO chief dies at age of 61
GENEVA - The head of the World Health Organisation, Lee Jong-wook of South Korea, died yesterday after suffering a blood clot on the brain, the UN agency said.
Mr Lee was 61 and had been WHO director-general since 2003. - (Reuters)
Richards back home after surgery
LOS ANGELES - Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards, who is back home in the US after undergoing surgery for a head injury in New Zealand, said he was feeling great and looking forward to returning to the road next month, his publicist said yesterday.
The brief statement did not say if the 62-year-old rocker was still receiving medical treatment. The publicist said he was back at his estate in Weston, Connecticut. - (Reuters)