A roundup of today's other stories in brief.
EU agrees on new talks with Turkey
BRUSSELS -The European Union has agreed to extend membership talks with Turkey to two new policy areas but has stopped short of opening discussions on the key area of economic and monetary policy, central to EU membership.
Ambassadors decided the EU would open talks with Ankara on the statistics and financial control negotiating chapters at an accession conference in Brussels today, a German EU presidency spokesman said.
The presidency left the third area off the agenda after France made clear it would block starting talks on that politically sensitive issue to mark President Nicolas Sarkozy's opposition to eventual Turkish EU entry, diplomats said. - (Reuters)
10 Hizbullah members get life
DIYARBAKIR -Ten members of banned Turkish Islamist organisation Hizbullah have been sentenced to life in prison after a 13-year trial for killing 24 people and carrying out bomb attacks during the 1990s. One suspect was acquitted.
The trial had been delayed in part by a supreme court ruling that annulled sentences passed on eight of the 10 in 1999. - (Reuters)
Tehran invites IAEA team to Iran
VIENNA -Iran has invited the International Atomic Energy Agency to send a team to agree how to resolve long-standing IAEA questions about Tehran's nuclear programme, the UN watchdog said.
Iran's chief negotiator Ali Larijani, who agreed a "plan of action" for transparency with IAEA director Mohamed ElBaradei in talks on Friday, returned to see Dr ElBaradei on Sunday and issued the invitation, the IAEA said. - (Reuters)
Heat deaths in southeast Europe
ATHENS -A heatwave has claimed two lives in Greece and killed six more people in Romania as temperatures soared to 46 degrees in parts of southeast Europe.
Turkey and Cyprus also reported deaths blamed on the intense heat, while three people drowned in Bulgaria swimming in unsupervised dams and beaches at the weekend as temperatures climbed well above early summer averages.
Greece, which has seen some of the highest temperatures, is set for its hottest June on record. The government responded by ordering all public offices to work only half days today and tomorrow, closing at midday to reduce energy consumption and to allow people to stay out of the sun. - (Reuters)
Chavez rallies troops against US
CARACAS -Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez has urged soldiers to prepare for a guerrilla-style war against the United States. He said the US government was using psychological and economic warfare as part of an unconventional campaign aimed at derailing his government.
Mr Chavez spoke yesterday before hundreds of uniformed soldiers standing alongside armoured vehicles and tanks decorated with banners reading: "Fatherland, Socialism, or Death! We will triumph!". "We must continue developing the resistance war, that's the anti-imperialist weapon. We must think and prepare for the resistance war every day," he said. - (Reuters)
Creationism vote cancelled
STRASBOURG -Europe's main human rights body has cancelled a scheduled vote on banning creationist and intelligent design views from school science classes, saying the proposed resolution was one-sided.
The resolution, which the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly was due to vote on today, said attacks on the theory of evolution were rooted "in forms of religious extremism" and amounted to a dangerous attack on scientific knowledge. - (Reuters)