A roundup of today's other world news in brief:
Carter urges UK to break Gaza embargo
LONDON- Britain and other European governments should break from the US over the international embargo on Gaza, former US president Jimmy Carter said yesterday.
Mr Carter, speaking at a literary festival in Hay in Wales, described the EU position on the Israeli-Palestinian dispute as "supine".
Referring to the possibility of Europe breaking with the US, Mr Carter said: "Why not? They're not our vassals. They occupy an equal position with the US."
- (Guardian service)
Lebanon elects new president
BEIRUT- Lebanon's parliament elected army chief Michel Suleiman as head of state yesterday, reviving paralysed state institutions after an 18-month standoff between a US-backed cabinet and the Hizbullah-led opposition.
Mr Suleiman was to be sworn in soon after the vote and then make a speech to parliament, setting the tone for his six-year term.
Lebanon has been without a president since November.
- (Reuters)
Farc leader's death confirmed
BOGOTA- Manuel Marulanda, the founder and top commander of Colombia's main left-wing guerrilla army, has died of a heart attack after more than four decades fighting the state, his rebel group has confirmed.
Colombia's military said on Saturday that intelligence sources showed Marulanda, known as "Sureshot", died in March, and the news was confirmed by rebel commander Timoleon Jimenez in a video played on Venezuelan TV yesterday.
- (Reuters)
Mugabe may expel US envoy
HARARE- Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe yesterday accused US ambassador James McGee of political interference and threatened to expel him from the country.
"He says he fought in Vietnam, but fighting in Vietnam does not give him the right to interfere in our domestic affairs. I am just waiting to see if he makes one more step wrong. He will get out," Mr Mugabe said.
"As tall as he is, if he continues to do that, I will kick him out of the country."
- (Reuters)
Johnson to end low bus fare deal
LONDON- London mayor Boris Johnson said yesterday he was scrapping an agreement with Venezuela that helped fund half-price bus and tram fares for Londoners on low incomes.
Under the deal struck by former mayor Ken Livingstone, London provided Venezuela with advice and expertise in public transport and urban planning in return for cash covering one-fifth of the fuel bill for London's bus fleet.
- (Reuters)
Spanish patrol rescues migrants
MADRID- Spanish coastguard boats rescued 65 migrants from the sea and recovered two corpses near the Canary Islands yesterday, an emergency services spokesman said.
Three of the 65 migrants were taken to hospital with hypothermia, a Red Cross spokesman told state radio.
- (Reuters)
Cargo plane skids off runway
BRUSSELS- A Boeing 747 cargo plane skidded off the runway at Brussels airport and split in at least two pieces after an aborted take-off.
None of the five crew members was seriously injured.
The plane, owned Ypsilanti, Michigan-based Kalitta Air, hurtled 300m past the end of the runway at around 1.30pm local time, Brussels airport spokesman Jan van der Cruysse said yesterday.
- (Bloomberg)