A round up of today's other word news in brief
Zimbabwe cholera deaths rise to 2,225
HARARE – The death toll from Zimbabwe's cholera epidemic rose to 2,225, with more than 42,000 others infected yesterday.
The UN said 1,550 new cases were being reported every day and lack of clean water and proper hygiene was causing reinfection after treatment.
It said an operation to feed millions of Zimbabweans because of a hunger crisis that preceded the cholera outbreak meant aid workers were competing for resources such as vehicles and fuel. – (Reuters)
Lithuania protest over economy
VILNIUS – Several thousand people protested rowdily yesterday against the government of the Baltic state of Lithuania, where the economy has gone into decline, taxes have been raised and budget spending cut.
“Thieves, thieves,” shouted some in the crowd during the demonstration against the new centre-right government, which police said was attended by about 5,000 people.
Protesters first gathered outside parliament, some throwing eggs and snowballs at the building. They planned later to march along the main street to the main government building.
“Free education for everyone,” said another banner.
The protest was called by trades unions after the government, only in office since elections in October last, raised taxes and cut spending to plug budget holes caused by falling revenues in the economic downturn. – (Reuters)
Payment in China tainted milk case
SHIJIAZHUANG – The parents of the first Chinese child killed by tainted milk formula have received €21,916 in compensation, state media said, with the government hoping the payments and a trial will quell popular anger.
The couple, farmers in northwest China’s Gansu province, were given 200,000 yuan by Sanlu as part of a compensation drive orchestrated by the government.
The melamine scandal has battered faith in China-made products after a series of other food and product-safety scares, and led to recalls of China- made dairy products around the world.
The five-month-old son of Yi Yongsheng and Jiao Hongfang died in May from kidney stones and agonising complications after drinking formula adulterated with melamine, one of six Chinese infants whose deaths have been blamed on milk powder made by the now-moribund Sanlu Group.
– (Reuters)
Piaf love letter fetches €1,500
ATHENS – A passionate love letter written by French singer Edith Piaf to a Greek actor more than half a century ago, telling him “don’t let my heart die”, fetched €1,500 at auction in Greece yesterday.
Piaf, who died of cancer at the age of 47 in 1963, wrote the letter to budding Greek heart-throb Dimitris Horn in 1946 – the year she recorded La Vie en Rose – just two days after meeting him at a performance in Athens.
The singer, who had a series of lovers and fought addictions to drugs and alcohol throughout her life, wrote the letter to Horn while she was already in a relationship with French actor and singer Yves Montand. – (Reuters)