A round-up of other stories in brief
Senate blocks president's anti-terror Act
WASHINGTON - A bipartisan group of US senators, demanding increased protection of civil liberties, defied President George W Bush yesterday and blocked legislation to renew the USA Patriot Act, a centrepiece of his war on terrorism. On a Senate vote of 52-47, mostly Republican backers of the measure fell eight short of the needed 60 to end debate and move to passage of it. - (Reuters)
Al-Zarqawi freed by mistake
FALLUJAH - Last year Iraqi security forces questioned terror leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in Fallujah but released him because they did not realise who he was, the deputy interior minister said yesterday. Maj Gen Hussein Kamal said Iraqi police were suspicious of him and "detained him for about three or four hours". "Iraqi police forces who were in Fallujah then did not have sophisticated equipment to take pictures of him or take his fingerprints," he said. - (AP)
Hamas extends election gains
RAMALLAH - Hamas extended big local election gains from the fractured ruling Fatah party yesterday, and Israel said that if the Islamic militants won Palestinian political dominance it would end all hope of peace talks.
In another violent blow to prospects for peacemaking, Palestinian gunmen killed a Jewish settler in a West Bank ambush. - (Reuters)
Reporter wins case against ABC
LONDON - A Canadian TV reporter yesterday won a case for unfair dismissal against US network ABC News, which ended his contract after he refused to go to Iraq. Richard Gizbert, who has reported from Bosnia and Chechnya, had claimed $3.9 million (€3.2 million) in compensation from ABC after it axed him in 2004. - (Reuters)
Students protest over killings
KATHMANDU - Nepali police fired tear gas to break up protests by students during a general strike in Kathmandu yesterday to protest at the killing of 12 civilians by a soldier near the capital, witnesses said. - (Reuters)
Liberian poll fraud claim is dismissed
MONROVIA - Liberian electoral authorities yesterday dismissed claims by the international soccer star George Weah that fraud had robbed him of victory in a presidential runoff vote held last month, but his party vowed to appeal.
"The statistics provided by the CDC [ Weah's party] in their complaint do not constitute massive fraud," said Joseph Blidi, the National Electoral Commission's presiding officer. - (Reuters)
New York transit strike threat
NEW YORK - New York transit workers called a strike on two bus lines and threatened to expand it into a mass walkout that could strand millions of commuters and jam the streets of the most populous US city.
New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority said that an offer that was rejected by transit union leaders was final,
This has increased the prospect of a full-blown walkout by the union's 34,000 workers.
This would leave seven million daily passengers scrambling for alternate transport. - (Reuters)
US actress wins libel damages
LONDON - US actress Teri Hatcher (41) has won substantial libel damages from a British newspaper that alleged she used a camper van outside her home to have sex with a series of men.
The Desperate Housewives star, who first found fame as Lois Lane in the 1990s television show The New Adventures of Superman, will also receive a public apology from the Daily Sport, which published the report. - (Reuters)
Cocaine seized off African coast
MADRID - Spanish officials have seized 4.5 tonnes of cocaine on a ship off the west coast of Africa and arrested nine Venezuelan crew members, the government said yesterday.
Spain is a major entry point for South American drugs coming into Europe, and UN experts say that drug cartels are increasingly using West Africa, which is unstable and underpoliced, as a hub. - (Reuters)