A roundup of today's other stories in brief.
Initial rail crash report due today
GRAYRIGG -A spokesman for Network Rail said initial findings of an investigation into a high-speed train crash in northwest England on Friday are likely to be published by the Rail Accident Investigation Branch this afternoon.
Network Rail said yesterday it had completed its 700-point inspections across the country following the crash, which killed an elderly woman and seriously injured several other passengers, and had found "nothing out of the ordinary". - (PA)
Eta talks offer dismissed by PM
MADRID -A key ally of Basque separatists Eta yesterday said the group would not demand major concessions from Spain's government to restart peace talks abandoned last month after the guerrillas killed two men in a car bombing.
Prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero dismissed the offer and said Eta had to convince Spain they had given up violence.
- (Reuters)
Deal struck to end Guinea's strike
CONAKRY-A general strike in Guinea will end on Tuesday after President Lansana Conte agreed to demands to choose a new prime minister from a list proposed by opponents, mediators said yesterday.
The regional economic bloc ECOWAS brokered the deal to end the work stoppage that has gripped the world's top exporter of bauxite, the ore used to make aluminium, since February 12th. - (Reuters)
Ferrero-Waldner to visit Middle East
BRUSSELS -The EU's external relations commissioner will seek in a four-day trip to the Middle East to encourage the formation of an acceptable Palestinian government with the prospect of new aid. The EU plans to expand aid to a current temporary mechanism to needy Palestinians, and is considering new channels to help some institutions and the economy, Benita Ferrero-Waldner said yesterday. - (Reuters)
Five shot dead in Sao Paulo slum
RIO DE JANEIRO -Police found the bodies of four men and a woman shot to death in a slum on the outskirts of Sao Paulo yesterday, the weekend's second multiple killing in the area. Agencia Estado news agency said investigators suspected a settlement of differences between criminal gangs. - (Reuters)
Jolie to join foreign policy think tank
Hollywood actor Angelina Jolie has been elected a member of an exclusive American foreign policy think tank. The UN goodwill ambassador will join US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, former secretary Henry Kissinger, and economist Alan Greenspan on the influential council, says the New York Post. -(PA)