A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Clashes in south Darfur leave 40 dead
NYALA - Fierce clashes between African groups in south Darfur have left up to 40 people dead and prompted foreign aid workers to abandon Greida, one of the world's largest camps for displaced people.
Fighters loyal to the Justice and Equality Movement, which refused to sign a peace deal in May, used mortars and machine guns to attack a faction of the Sudan Liberation Army which had accepted the deal.
The agencies that withdrew include Oxfam, Merlin, and Action against Hunger. Only the International Committee of the Red Cross has stayed on in Greida to care for an estimated 130,000 homeless people who live in a vast camp beside the town. - (Guardian service)
Downing Street intruder arrested
LONDON - An intruder armed with a knife was arrested yesterday after scaling a wall and getting into a secure area of British prime minister Tony Blair's official London residence, police said.
The man was caught after he scaled a fence from a road open to the public at the back of 10 Downing Street into what officials describe as the building's outer secure area. The man, named as Byung Jin Lee (32) of no fixed abode, was later charged with "assault of a police officer and possession of a bladed article". - (Reuters)
Five killed in attack on Shell oil station
PORT HARCOURT - Nigerian militants in speed boats attacked a Royal Dutch Shell oil pumping station yesterday, killing soldiers and ending a period of relative quiet in the volatile Niger Delta.
An oil industry source said the militants killed five of the 15 soldiers guarding the Cawthorne Channel facility, located in Rivers State in the eastern delta. - (Reuters)
Sheridan faces police inquiry
LONDON - Police are to conduct an inquiry into claims that Scottish socialist MP Tommy Sheridan lied under oath during his recent libel trial with the News of The World, in which the paper claimed he indulged in cocaine-fuelled orgies.
Mr Sheridan won the libel battle in August and was awarded Stg£200,000 in damages. But the paper says he lied to the jury and on Sunday claimed it had a video tape in which Mr Sheridan himself admits that he went to sex clubs. - (Reuters)
Corruption claims against ex-ministers
NAIROBI - Four former ministers should be prosecuted for their part in one of Kenya's biggest corruption scandals involving some $300 million, the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission said yesterday.
Political pressure has mounted over the slow pace of investigations into the so-called Anglo Leasing affair which involved state tenders awarded to fictitious firms. - (Reuters)