A round-up to today's other stories in brief
Kosovo told to protect Serb minority
BRUSSELS - Kosovo's ethnic Albanian government must take action now to protect its Serbian minority, the EU's foreign policy chief told new Kosovan prime minister Agim Ceku yesterday.
"For a long time there has been a lot of talk but not much action. I think we have to reverse that now, to talk less and act more," Javier Solana said after talks with Mr Ceku. "I insist very much that . . . this is fundamental."
Full protection of the 10 per cent Serbian minority in Kosovo is essential for talks launched in February on the status of the Serbian province to move forward, an EU official said. - (Reuters)
Nuclear plant safe after blaze
TOKYO - A fire broke out at a nuclear power plant in western Japan yesterday, but operator Kansai Electric Power Co said there was no radioactive leak. A spokesman said a fire broke out in a waste disposal facility at two nuclear generation units of the Oi plant in Fukui prefecture, 380km (235 miles) west of Tokyo. - (Reuters)
Pressure over death sentence
KABUL - Under mounting international pressure over the case of a man facing the death penalty for converting to Christianity, Afghanistan said yesterday the judiciary would decide the case.
An Afghan judge said this week a man named Abdur Rahman had been jailed for converting from Islam to Christianity and could face the death penalty if he refused to become a Muslim again. - (Reuters)
2m new refugees last year, says UN
GENEVA - About two million people were forced from their homes by conflict or abuse last year, but remained within their own countries according to a UN-commissioned report released in Geneva yesterday.
Refugees who flee across an international border can claim protection under a global treaty signed in 1951, but no such system exists for the people who are displaced within their own country. - (AP)
Falun Gong protest over killings
DUBLIN - The Falun Gong movement in Ireland held a protest outside the Dáil yesterday against alleged activities at a concentration camp in China, writes Deagláde Bréadún. The group claims Falun Gong practitioners are being killed in the camp, located at Shenyang city, Liaoning province, and their bodily organs sold for profit.
The movement cites evidence from "a former intelligence agent of the Chinese government", that the camp holds over 6,000 Falun Gong adherents at any given time, and "nobody has yet come out" from it alive.
Coyote in Big Apple not so wily
NEW YORK - A coyote which came to New York to dine on duck in Central Park was caught yesterday after leading police and park rangers on a two-day chase.
The coyote was tracked down inside the 341-hectare (843 acre) park, officials said. - (Reuters)
Olmert will not wait for Hamas
TEL AVIV - Acting Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert said yesterday that he won't wait years for Hamas to recognise his country, a precondition for peace talks, and that he is prepared to take unilateral steps in the meantime.
"We waited a reasonable time. If we see there is no reasonable chance [ for a resumption of talks] we will take our fate in our own hands." - (Reuters)
Bored bureaucrat seeks support
OTTAWA - A bored Canadian bureaucrat fed up with office drudgery is seeking Can$1 million (€709,000) in donations so he can quit his job and "do something that makes a difference in my life and the lives of others".