A round-up of other world stories in brief...
N Korea plans to scrap deals with South
SEOUL – North Korea said yesterday it was scrapping all accords with South Korea, a move the south’s prime minister said could be timed to coincide with Barack Obama taking over as US president.
The US state department described the North Korean comments as “distinctly not helpful” but said Washington would keep pursuing a 2005 multilateral deal under which Pyongyang agreed to abandon its nuclear programmes.
Analysts said the latest rise in tension increased the chances of a military clash on the strongly defended border that has divided the two Koreas for more than half a century. – (Reuters)
Islamist set for Somali presidency
DJIBOUTI – Somalias prime minister pulled out of a presidential election in Djibouti last night after rival candidate and moderate Islamist leader Sheikh Sharif Ahmed won the first round of voting among legislators.
The withdrawal of Nur Hassan Hussein at a parliament meeting meant Sheikh Ahmed would almost certainly win the election for president.
“I thank you very much and I am very hopeful everything will go smoothly and end as the people wish,” Mr Hussein said, shaking Sheikh Ahmeds hand after addressing the parliament.
In the first round of voting, Sheikh Ahemd, from the Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia, was first with 215 votes; followed by Maslah Mohamed Siad, a general and son of former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre, with 60 votes, and then Mr Hussein with 59. – (Reuters)
Cyprus detains Iranian ship
NICOSIA – Cypriot authorities have detained a vessel from Iran and are investigating whether it was carrying an illegal cargo of weapons, diplomatic sources said yesterday.
It was unclear where the ship was destined. Israel’s Haaretz newspaper said the vessel, loaded with weapons, was heading to Syria.
The Cyprus-flagged ship was suspected of carrying weapons destined for the Lebanese Islamist guerrilla group Hizbullah or for Islamist Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip, Haaretz quoted Israeli sources as saying. Cypriot media said the vessel was thought to be carrying gunpowder.– (Reuters)
Peanut plant in poisoning inquiry
CHICAGO – The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is joining the justice department in a criminal investigation of Peanut Corp of America, whose plant caused an outbreak of salmonella that has sickened more than 500 people and may have killed eight.
The FDA said it would help investigate criminal allegations in the outbreak, traced to a Blakely, Georgia, plant. – (Reuters)