A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Al-Zawahri in video calls Bush a butcher
DUBAI - Al Qaeda's deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahri called US president George Bush a "butcher" in a video tape aired yesterday, saying a recent US air strike targeting him had killed only innocent people.
In the tape aired by al- Jazeera television, Zawahri, Osama bin Laden's right- hand man, referred to the air strike in Pakistan, in which 18 Muslim men, women and children were killed. "They said this was intended to kill myself and four of my brothers but now the whole world has discovered the US lies and their failure and brutality."
Al- Jazeera also aired a video tape from an Iraqi militant group on Monday showing US hostage Jill Carroll and said that she appealed for fellow Americans to press for the release of Iraqi women held by US-led forces. Ms Carroll was seen crying in the grainy footage that carried a January 28th date stamp and a logo showing the name of the Revenge Brigades militant group. Her voice was not heard. - (Reuters)
Fresh claims over Kenyan ministers
NAIROBI - Kenya's government, already criticised over allegations of high-level corruption, faced another blow yesterday after a report accused it of blowing state funds on expensive cars for ministers. The report said President Mwai Kibaki's government spent 878 million shillings (€10 million) on new vehicles since sweeping to power in 2002 on promises to tackle poverty and fight corruption. - (Reuters)
Georgia closes airspace to Russia
TBILISI - Georgia has closed its airspace to Russian military aircraft, adding a new irritant to relations still raw from a dispute over gas supplies.
Georgian air traffic controllers said Russia owed $1 million in unpaid fees for their services. - (Reuters)
Trapped Canadian miners rescued
TORONTO - Officials have rescued all but five of 72 miners trapped under ground by a fire in a central Canadian potash mine and say the remaining workers would reach the surface within a few hours.
The fire broke out on Sunday morning, forcing the miners to seek safety for 24 hours in emergency refuge rooms. - (Reuters)
Pope John Paul cure claimed
VATICAN CITY - The Vatican may have found the "miracle" they need to put the late Pope John Paul one step closer to sainthood - the medically inexplicable healing of a French nun with the same Parkinson's disease that afflicted him.
Mons Slawomir Oder, the Catholic Church official in charge of promoting the cause to declare the late pope a saint, said the "relatively young" nun, whom he could not identify for now, was inexplicably cured of Parkinson's after praying to John Paul after his death last April 2nd. - (Reuters)
Bolivia seeks aid after major floods
NEW YORK - Bolivia has asked for international assistance after torrential rains and flooding across the country, said the UN. Almost 600 houses have been damaged, roads blocked, small bridges wrecked, some rural communities isolated and tens of thousands of hectares of crops destroyed. - (Reuters)
Man shattered after museum trip
LONDON - A hapless visitor to the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge in England, which for decades has displayed a group of Qing dynasty Chinese vases on a window sill, last week tripped on his shoelace, tumbled down a flight of stairs and crashed into the vases, smashing them into smithereens. The man, who has not been named, left the museum shaken but undamaged - in sharp contrast to the vases. - (Reuters)