A roundup of today's other world stories in brief:
Peacekeepers rescue Congo envoys
KINSHASA - UN and European peacekeepers yesterday rescued a group of foreign ambassadors in Congo who had been trapped in a house because of fighting between soldiers loyal to the president and an election rival, a western diplomat said.
"They are in a convoy leaving Bemba's house right now - they are heading towards the UN headquarters," the diplomat said, after making radio contact with the convoy.
The envoys had been pinned down by heavy fighting around the house of vice-president and former rebel chief Jean-Pierre Bemba, President Joseph Kabila's closest challenger in the July 30th elections.
- (Reuters)
Death of Iwo Jima photographer
SAN FRANCISCO - The photographer who won a Pulitzer Prize for his immortal picture of six second World War soldiers raising an American flag over battle-scarred Iwo Jima, has died. He was 94.
Joe Rosenthal died yesterday of natural causes in the San Francisco suburb of Novato. His photo, taken on February 23rd, 1945, for the Associated Press, became the model for the Iwo Jima memorial near Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.
- (AP)
Lucky escape for parachutist
JOHANNESBURG - A South African sky-diver plummeted 1,000m when his parachute failed to open on his first high-altitude jump, but walked away unscathed. "Because it was my first jump, I thought I just had a bad landing," said Benno Jacobs (35), who landed in a field near Bloemfontein after his jump on Friday and suffered bruises and a swollen lip.
- (Reuters)