A round-up of today's other stories in brief
47 Indians killed as water tank collapses
JAIPUR, India - Forty-seven people were killed and 30 injured yesterday when a water storage tank they were sitting on collapsed in the western Indian state of Rajasthan, a government official said. The incident took place about 6pm (12.30 GMT)in Kama town of Bharatpur district, about 200km (125 miles) east of the state capital, Jaipur.
The group was using the concrete water tank, meant to store water for the area, as a stand to watch a wrestling match. - (Reuters)
Three killed in Pakistan protests
QUETTA, Pakistan - At least three people were killed as protests spread in Pakistan's gas-rich Baluchistan province yesterday, a day after a popular nationalist rebel leader was killed fighting government forces.
Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti (79) was killed on Saturday, the government said, in one of the biggest battles in years in Baluchistan, where nationalists have for decades complained the province does not get a fair share of profits from its resources. - (Reuters)
Cuba and Florida await hurricane
MIAMI - Hurricane Ernesto threatened Haiti with deadly floods and prompted evacuations in Florida and Cuba yesterday as it headed for the Gulf of Mexico a year after hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans.
Residents of the battered US Gulf coast jazz city were breathing more easily as the Atlantic season's first hurricane took a path that left Louisiana outside the danger zone but raised alarms in Florida, weary from eight hurricanes in the last two years.
Cuba, facing its first hurricane in decades without President Fidel Castro at the helm, began evacuating 200,000 people from its eastern provinces and called its fishing fleet to harbour. - (Reuters)
Lula stretches lead in Brazil polls
SAO PAULO - President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has pulled further ahead of his nearest rival in Brazil's presidential race, helped by middle-class fears over a new wave of criminal violence, a poll showed yesterday.
The survey showed Lula with 49 per cent of the vote, up from 47 per cent nine days ago, in his bid for re-election. - (Reuters)
Democracy under attack, says Gore
EDINBURGH - Former US vice-president Al Gore warned that "democracy is under attack" in a speech delivered to the Edinburgh International Television Festival yesterday.
The 58-year-old said TV networks in the world's biggest democracies, including the US, must do more to reflect and foster debate, which he said was crucial for democracy to flourish. - (Reuters)
Gunmen murder seven Kenyans
ISIOLO, Kenya - Suspected Ethiopian gunmen killed seven Kenyan villagers early yesterday after crossing the border into the country's remote north, officials said.
Marsabit district commissioner Mutea Iringo said the victims were shot dead near North Horr village. - (Reuters)
Burning issue for a Rolling Stone
GLASGOW - Council bosses yesterday confirmed they are to launch a probe into whether Rolling Stone Keith Richards broke Scotland's smoking ban. Glasgow City Council has received a report that the legendary rock band's guitarist lit up on stage at Hampden Park.
It came after the veteran rockers played a concert there on Friday night, as part of their Bigger Bang European tour.
A spokesman for the local authority said: "This has been brought to our attention and we will be looking into it. "Glasgow City Council takes it responsibility for enforcing the smoking ban very seriously." - (PA)