A roundup of today's other stories in brief:
Zimbabwe to compensate for seized land
HARARE - Zimbabwe will pay compensation in foreign currency for land seized from foreigners, but the land owners could still challenge the seizures in court, a cabinet minister said yesterday.
Since 2000 President Robert Mugabe's government has taken over thousands of white-owned commercial farms after backing often violent invasions led by veterans of the country's 1970s struggle against white rule.
Last August the government passed laws that nationalised all such farms, barring farmers from challenging the seizure of their property in courts.
- (Reuters)
Brown backs nuclear policy
LONDON - British chancellor Gordon Brown said yesterday he backed the country's independent nuclear deterrent.
Prime minister Tony Blair has said he will not fight another election and many expect Brown to succeed him within two years. Their ruling Labour party has a manifesto commitment to keep the deterrent until at least the next election, expected in 2009.
- (Reuters)
Oslo to ban burka wear at school
OSLO - Schools in the Norwegian capital will ban Muslim girls from wearing the burka, adding to the list of European cities and states that have banned the headdress.
Oslo's city council wants to ban the burka, which covers the face, because teachers cannot do their job properly when they cannot see their students' faces, the head of the city's education department said. The ban will be introduced at the end of August.
- (Reuters)
Paedophile 'law' in UK rejected
LONDON - British home secretary John Reid's suggestion that the public should know more about where paedophiles live was opposed last night by the office of the Government- appointed children's commissioner.
A statement from the commissioner's officials said introducing a "Megan's Law" in the UK could put more children at risk by forcing paedophiles "underground".
The commissioner's intervention came as parents attacked the Government's decision not to bar two sex offenders from working in schools.
- (PA)
Turkey reaffirms stance over ports
ANKARA - Foreign minister Abdullah Gul yesterday reaffirmed Turkey's refusal to open its ports and airports to Greek Cypriot traffic, saying the EU must first lift trade restrictions against Turkish Cypriots.
Ankara is under EU pressure to move towards normalising its ties with Cyprus's internationally recognised Greek Cypriot government or face the possible suspension of its own entry talks.
- (Reuters)
Landslides kill 114 in Indonesia
SINJAI - Landslides and floods on Indonesia's eastern Sulawesi island have killed 114 people and the toll could rise further, officials said yesterday.
A search-and-rescue operation was under way after two days of heavy rain in several parts of South Sulawesi province. Sinjai regency was the worst-hit area after flooding early on Tuesday, rescuers and police said.
- (Reuters)
Grandmother on trial over shooting
NEW YORK - A 79-year-old grandmother has gone on trial in the US accused of shooting her 85-year-old ex-boyfriend in the head in a jealous rage.
Lena Sims Driskell, who used a walking stick to get to her seat in the courtroom, allegedly fired four shots into Herman Winslow because their year-long romance had ended and he had found another companion.
- (PA)