A round-up of today's other stories in brief:
'Scooter' Libby trial date set
WASHINGTON DC - A federal judge has set a trial date for early next year for a former top White House aide who is facing perjury and other charges stemming from the leaking of a CIA operative's identity to the news media.
US District Judge Reggie Walton said that jury selection would begin on January 8th in the case of Lewis "Scooter" Libby, former chief of staff to vice- president Dick Cheney.
Mr Libby faces five charges of perjury, making false statements and obstruction of justice. He has pleaded not guilty.
The charges stem from an investigation by a special prosecutor into who in the Bush administration leaked CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity to the media in 2003. Her diplomat husband, Joseph Wilson, had accused the Bush administration of twisting intelligence on weapons of mass destruction to justify war in Iraq. - (Reuters)
Rare river dolphins dead
JOHANNESBURG - Ten dead Irrawaddy dolphins have been found in Cambodia's Mekong river, eight of them calves, pushing one of the rarest cetaceans nearer extinction, according to environmental group WWF International in Johannesburg.
The deaths mean a 10 per cent drop in the number of Irrawaddy dolphins living in the Mekong, previously thought to be between 80 and 100. They are restricted to a 190km (115 mile) stretch of the river in the Cambodia/ Laos border area.
There are believed to be about 1,000 of the dolphins worldwide, other groups being found in Thai coastal estuaries and a few other freshwater locations in Asia. - (Reuters)
Nasa inspector accused on safety
WASHINGTON - Nasa's inspector general is accused of failing to properly respond to safety problems and retaliating against whistle-blowers, according to an internal memo he wrote to his employees.
Robert "Moose" Cobb, a former White House lawyer who was appointed Nasa inspector general in 2002, urged workers to co-operate with an administrative investigation into the
matter. In the e-mail, posted on the SpaceRef.com website and quoted in yesterday's Washington Post, Cobb said the president's council on integrity and efficiency was looking into allegations that he "failed to investigate violations of safety concerns" and retaliated against whistle-blowers. - (Reuters)
Sceptical response to bird flu claims
WASHINGTON - Two teams working on better vaccines for use against a potential bird flu pandemic have announced progress in the past week, but influenza experts are sceptical.
Each lab used a human cold virus, an adenovirus, to carry pieces of DNA from H5N1 flu in a vaccine. A lab at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and a lab at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center were able to protect mice against fatal H5N1 infections. "It's just not that new," Dr John Treanor, a flu vaccine expert at the University of Rochester in New York, said.
"There are a zillion vaccines that protect in mice. On the grand scale of things, it's nowhere near to being a vaccine you would see in humans." - (Reuters)
UN to transfer peacekeepers
NEW YORK - The United Nations has disclosed plans to temporarily shift about 200 Nigerian peacekeepers and 125 Nepalese police officers to Ivory Coast from Liberia after the United States objected to reinforcements. The groups will be transferred once the UN Security Council consents.
About 7,000 UN peacekeepers and 700 international police officers, working with 4,000 French troops, are trying to uphold a shaky peace in Ivory Coast. - (Reuters)