A round-up of today's other news stories.
Sharon to undergo heart operation
TEL AVIV - Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon will undergo a catheterisation procedure in the next two or three weeks to repair a small hole in his heart that apparently led to a minor stroke, according to his doctors.
Dr Haim Lotem, head of cardiology at Jerusalem's Hadassah Hospital, said the hole, measuring 1-2mm, was a minor birth defect found in 15 to 25 per cent of people. - (AP)
'Garlic' gas attack injures shoppers
ST PETERSBURG - A gas smelling of garlic injured dozens of Russian shoppers when it was released into a supermarket yesterday in the city of St Petersburg, but police ruled out a terrorist attack. Two other shops of a handyman store chain were evacuated at the height of the pre-new year shopping period, after rescue workers found two other suspicious canisters fitted with timing devices. - (Reuters)
UN drives out Congo rebels
KINSHASA - Congolese and UN forces have killed about 80 rebels in a week of joint operations and vowed to sustain the drive to bring peace to the violent east before next year's elections.
A UN military spokesman said peacekeepers and Congolese government troops were pursuing Ugandan rebel fighters after driving them from five camps in the DRC's north Kivu district. - (Reuters)
Pinochet loses court appeal
SANTIAGO - Chile's former dictator Augusto Pinochet lost a key appeal before the Supreme Court yesterday and must now face charges for the disappearance of leftists during his regime.
Pinochet must now face a series of human rights charges against him related to Operation Colombo, in which 119 members of an armed revolutionary group disappeared in the mid- 1970s. - (Reuters)
'Arnie' stadium gets the boot
GRAZ - Officials in Arnold Schwarzenegger's Austrian home town of Graz have removed his name from a football stadium, complying with the California governor's demand in a bitter dispute over his death penalty stance.
Authorities yesterday removed the letters spelling out the action star turned politician's name on the stadium, taking advantage of the Christmas lull to avoid attracting attention. - (AP)