A round-up of today's other stories in brief
57 killed as bus crashes into ravine
MEXICO CITY - At least 57 people died yesterday when a tour bus crashed into a ravine in eastern Mexico, rescue officials said.
Five children were among those killed in the accident on a highway linking the capital with the port city of Veracruz on the Gulf of Mexico, said civil protection official Ranulfo Marquez. He said the dead were all Mexicans on a chartered bus travelling from the Guadalajara to Veracruz, a colonial city. - (Reuters)
Former governor guilty of corruption
CHICAGO - Former Illinois governor George Ryan (72), a hero to death penalty opponents worldwide for halting executions in the state, was found guilty yesterday of racketeering, fraud, tax evasion and other public corruption charges.
Larry Warner, a former colleague on trial with Ryan, was also found guilty of all charges. The verdict came after a federal court trial that lasted nearly six months. - (Guardian service)
15 killed in militia violence in Sudan
KHARTOUM - Fifteen people including 11 civilians have been killed in clashes between militia fighters in southern Sudan since Saturday, straining a deal that ended the country's north-south civil war, officials said yesterday.
The fighting is between rival factions of a southern militia group called the South Sudan Defence Forces (SSDF), which fought alongside Sudanese government forces during the 20-year civil war, the local officials said. - (Reuters)
Islamist fighters surrender
ALGIERS - More than 80 Algerian Islamist fighters have surrendered under an amnesty aimed at restoring peace after more than a decade of civil strife, the country's interior minister said in comments published yesterday.
"More than 80 terrorists have surrendered," government-backed newspaper El Moudjahid quoted Noureddine Yazid Zerhouni as saying during a visit by President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to the eastern city of Constantine on Sunday. - (Reuters)
Belarus leader reappointed
MINSK - Belarus's parliament reappointed Sergei Sidorsky as prime minister yesterday in a sign that the ex-Soviet state has no intention of changing policies that sparked protests at home and in the West.
Mr Sidorsky had to resign in line with the constitution after President Alexander Lukashenko was re-elected for a third term last month in a vote branded as rigged by independent observers. - (Reuters)