In Short

A round-up of today's other stories in brief

A round-up of today's other stories in brief

29 soldiers die in drugs battle in Colombia

BOGOTA - Colombia will manually destroy all plants used to make cocaine around one of the country's biggest natural parks, where 29 soldiers were killed in combat with drug-running Marxist rebels, President Alvaro Uribe has said.

The day after the battle near Macarena National Park in Meta province between soldiers and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or Farc, Mr Uribe vowed new efforts to defeat "these miserable terrorists financed by the narcotics trade". - (Reuters)

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Children's families paid by Glitter

HANOI - The disgraced former British pop star Gary Glitter has paid £2,275 (€3,326) to the families of two Vietnamese girls he is accused of sexually assaulting after they agreed to write to the authorities asking that the case be dropped, his lawyer has said.

The admission comes as prosecutors in Vung Tau said they had insufficient evidence to charge him with rape. He is likely be charged with the lesser offence of engaging in obscene acts with a child. - (Guardian service)

Saudi police shoot suspect dead

RIYADH - Saudi police have shot dead a militant suspected of killing five policemen in the kingdom's ultra-conservative Muslim heartland, the Saudi interior ministry has said.

Another gunman, on a most wanted list of militants linked to al-Qaeda, also died in custody yesterday after being wounded during a shoot-out with police following Tuesday's attack in Qassim. - (Reuters)

Mafia suspect held in Canaries

MADRID - Spanish police have arrested a suspected Italian Mafia finance chief in the Canary Islands after a two-year search. Pietro Nocera (47) is suspected of being the finance chief of the Nuvoleta clan of the Camorra, the Naples-area version of the Sicilian Mafia. - (Reuters)

Brazilian prisoners hold 207 hostages

SAO PAOLO - Inmates at a prison in Brazil's remote Amazon jungle are refusing to release their 207 hostages even though authorities were prepared yesterday to meet their principal demand by returning their escaped leader from another prison.

The 190 women and 17 men being held are relatives of the inmates. - (AP)

Disney Christmas tree goes on fire

ANAHEIM - A 10.6m (35ft) Christmas tree caught fire in the lobby of the Disneyland Grand Californian Hotel in Anaheim yesterday, forcing the evacuation of more than 2,000 guests. Two sustained minor injuries. - (PA)

Soldiers killed in Afghanistan

KABUL - Two soldiers, one an American and the other an Afghan, were killed yesterday in a roadside bomb attack in eastern Afghanistan that also wounded two US troops, a US military spokesman said. - (Reuters)

200 in Cairo call for releases

CAIRO - More than 200 Egyptians have demonstrated in Cairo, calling for the release of hundreds detained during recent parliamentary elections. The Muslim Brotherhood, which won 20 per cent of the seats, said 800 of its members remained in custody from the elections, which monitors said were rife with abuses. - (Reuters)