A round-up of today's other world news in brief
Doubt Europe can wipe out measles by 2010
LONDON - Too many children remain unvaccinated against measles for Europe to have any realistic hope of eliminating the disease by 2010, researchers said yesterday.
In 2006 and 2007, more than 12,000 measles cases were reported in the region, mainly in Romania, Germany, Britain, Switzerland and Italy, where fewer children have immunisations against the disease, they found.
In their study, published in the Lancet, the researchers found that 85 per cent of the measles cases were reported in just these five countries. - (Reuters)
Hemingway archive available
SAN FRANCISCO DE PAULA, Cuba - Cuba on Monday made the first of thousands of digitised documents, photographs and books that belonged to writer Ernest Hemingway available to scholars after the items languished for decades in the basement of his home outside Havana.
Most of the papers have never been published and will give new insight into the 21 years Hemingway spent at Finca Vigia in San Francisco de Paula, where he wrote some of his greatest works, said Ada Rosa Alfonso Rosales, director of Museo Ernest Hemingway.
Scholars "will be able to study important documents that shed light on the Cuban period of Hemingway, which was very important and not well known by his biographers", she said. - (Reuters)
Polish president backs rival
WARSAW - Polish president Lech Kaczynski threw his weight yesterday behind foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski, a political rival, for the post of Nato secretary general.
Mr Kaczynski and Mr Sikorski, both right-wingers, have often been at loggerheads over key foreign policy issues.
The president, a Eurosceptic and a staunch critic of Russia, has accused Mr Sikorski of acting in line with Moscow's interests.
Asked about Mr Sikorski's candidacy, Mr Kaczynski said: "He even got the backing of the opposition." - (Reuters)
Boy (4) in Ohio shoots babysitter
JACKSON - A boy of four shot his babysitter in revenge for accidentally standing on his foot.
The boy grabbed the shotgun from a cupboard and shot Nathan Beavers (18) in his arm and side.
Mr Beavers was looking after the child at a mobile home in Jackson, Ohio.
He suffered only minor injuries but needed hospital treatment. - (AP)
Travolta's son (16) cremated
NASSAU - The body of actor John Travolta's 16-year-old son, Jett, was cremated in the Bahamas after his sudden death during the new year holiday and his parents flew to Florida with his ashes, a Bahamian lawmaker said yesterday.
The death certificate listed the cause of death as "seizure disorder", according to an official at the funeral home where his body was cremated. - (Reuters)