A roundup of today's other stories in brief.
Iran threatens 'oil weapon' in nuclear row
TEHRAN - Iran has warned Britain and the US that the international community could face a new oil crisis if the United Nations security council imposes sanctions on Tehran over its alleged attempt to acquire a nuclear weapons-making capability.
Speaking in Tehran, Ali Larijani, the country's chief nuclear negotiator and head of the supreme national security council, said Iran would be reluctant to cut its oil exports.
"We do not want to use the oil weapon. It is them who would impose it upon us."
Mr Larijani however added that if the West did decide on sanctions, "we will react in a way that would be painful for them . . . Do not force us to do something that will make people shiver in the cold." - (Guardian service)
150 killed in Ethiopia floods
ADDIS ABABA - Floods killed about 150 people in eastern Ethiopia when heavy rains caused a river to burst its banks, sending a wall of water into a town that killed most of the victims as they slept, police said yesterday.
"Floods from the overflowing Dechatu river hit Dire Dawa town in the middle of Saturday night while residents were sleeping," police inspector Benyam Fikru said. - (Reuters)
Immigrants hid in rollercoasters
CEUTA - Spanish police caught more than 300 immigrants hiding in fairground equipment on its way back to Spain from a fiesta in the north African enclave of Ceuta, police sources said yesterday.
Immigrants hid in rollercoaster cars and under trucks, hoping to hitch a lift across the Straits of Gibraltar, adding to the scores of African immigrants who have arrived on Spanish beaches in the past week. - (Reuters)
British soldier dies in Afghanistan
LONDON - A British soldier was killed during an operation yesterday in Helmand province in southern Afghanistan, the defence ministry said. It gave no further details. - (Reuters)
8 killed in China bus explosion
BEIJIN - An explosion aboard a bus in southern China killed eight people yesterday, a government news agency reported, just days after a similar explosion killed 11. The explosion occurred in Hunan province's Guiyang county, the Xinhua News Agency said. - (AP)
Secret papers on alleged CIA kidnap
ROME - Italy's government has acknowledged that there are secret documents it cannot declassify related to the alleged CIA kidnapping of a terrorism suspect in Milan, a senior official in parliament said yesterday.
The head of Italy's Sismi military intelligence agency, Nicolo Pollari, has refused to co-operate fully with magistrates investigating a possible Italian role in the incident, saying he was restricted by "state secrets", his lawyer said. - (Reuters)
4 Turkish soldiers killed in ambush
TUNCELI - Four Turkish soldiers were killed and three others wounded in an ambush by separatist guerrillas in the north- eastern province of Gumushane yesterday, the Anatolian news agency reported. - (Reuters)
10 hurt in Kashmir grenade attack
SRINAGAR - At least 10 people, including five policemen, were wounded yesterday when suspected Islamist militants hurled a grenade at a crowded crossing in Indian Kashmir, police said.
The attack was the second in 24 hours and was aimed at a security patrol in Baramulla district, north of Srinagar, Kashmir's summer capital, they said. - (Reuters)