A round-up of today's other stories in brief.
Israelis kill 2 Palestinians in Gaza
GAZA - Israeli soldiers killed two Palestinian gunmen in a clash near a Gaza Strip border crossing yesterday.
Troops fired on a group of gunmen near the Karni border crossing, saying they were suspected of trying to plant a bomb at a buffer zone where there are Israeli patrols. - (Reuters)
Huge wave drowns 11 children
DAR ES SALAAM - Eleven schoolchildren drowned in Zanzibar yesterday when a huge wave capsized the boat they were playing in.
A police official on the Indian Ocean island said the children had gone to play at a beach near their primary school on the outskirts of Zanzibar town when the wave struck. - (Reuters)
Hindus seek right to funeral pyres
LONDON - Britain's Hindus and Sikhs want the right to stage open-air cremations on funeral pyres so their dead can take an unimpeded path to reincarnation.
"Without these essential last rites, the soul languishes in restless torment," said Davender Ghai of the Anglo-Asian Friendship Society, a charity that is seeking to overturn a 75-year-old ban. - (Reuters)
Fossett begins 80-hour flight
CAPE CANAVERAL - Millionaire US adventurer Steve Fossett took off in an experimental plane yesterday on an 80-hour flight that he hopes will set a non-stop distance record.
The GlobalFlyer aircraft, which has a wingspan as wide as an 11-storey building is tall, lifted off at around 7.20am (12.20 GMT) after rolling ponderously down a rented runway used by Nasa's space shuttles at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. - (Reuters)
Doherty escapes jail term for drugs
LONDON - Babyshambles lead singer Pete Doherty, who had an on-off relationship with model Kate Moss, escaped a jail term yesterday over seven drugs offences.
The 26-year-old rocker, who had pleaded guilty to possessing heroin and cocaine at a hearing last month, was given a community order for 12 months, requiring him to attend a drug rehabilitation centre and to undergo monthly check-ups. - (Reuters)
Avalanches kill 19 in Afghanistan
MAZAR-I-SHARIF - Avalanches swept away 10 homes in Afghanistan's Hindu Kush mountains, killing 19 people, most of them children.
The avalanches struck in remote parts of Sar-i-Pul province on Monday and Tuesday after heavy snow over the weekend, said the province's governor, Sayed Iqbal Munib. - (Reuters)