A round-up of today's other stories in brief
New foreign minister for Sweden
STOCKHOLM - Swedish prime minister Goran Persson picked UN heavyweight Jan Eliasson as foreign minister yesterday to replace a predecessor seen as an embarrassment to a government facing an election in six months.
Mr Eliasson, currently UN General Assembly chairman, could give the Nordic country a stronger voice in world affairs than Laila Freivalds, who resigned last week in a row over free speech.
Afghan convert seeks asylum
KABUL - An Afghan man who could have faced the death penalty for converting from Islam to Christianity is seeking asylum abroad, the UN said yesterday.
The US said earlier that the man, Abdur Rahman, who was jailed earlier this month for rejecting Islam, would be freed.
Lithuanian guilty of war crimes
VILNIUS - A Lithuanian court yesterday convicted an 85-year-old man of crimes against Jews during the second World War, but handed down no sentence as the judge said he was too old and no longer represented a threat to society.
The case of Algimantas Dailide, who said he was only a humble clerk for the Nazi-backed secret police, has revived memories of the genocide in Lithuania that all but wiped out the country's more than 200,000 Jews.
Basque police hold Eta suspects
BILBAO - Basque police arrested two people suspected of having links to Eta yesterday, the Basque interior ministry said, days after the armed separatist group declared a permanent ceasefire.
After ETA announced its truce, politicians insisted the judiciary and police would continue to pursue the group.
11 die in Russian helicopter crash
MOSCOW - At least five people were killed when a helicopter with 11 people on board crashed in eastern Russia, officials said yesterday.
Russia's transport ministry said in a statement that the Mi-8 helicopter crashed as it was descending to land in the Yakutia region of Siberia. Accidents with Mi-8s, the workhorse of Russia's helicopter fleet, are common.
Liberia wants Taylor tried abroad
MONROVIA - Liberia wants former president Charles Taylor to be sent directly to Sierra Leone for trial for war crimes, rather than to Liberian territory, President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf said yesterday.
Nigeria, where Taylor has lived in exile since 2003, said on Saturday that Liberian authorities were free to take custody of Mr Taylor, but Ms Johnson-Sirleaf's statement, made to church representatives, indicated Liberia did not want to do this.
Airport heist in South Africa
JOHANNESBURG - South Africa's business community called for stronger security at Johannesburg International Airport yesterday after gunmen made off with bundles of cash from an aircraft at the weekend.
Police said yesterday they were still unsure of the exact amount taken in Saturday's heist, but a newspaper estimated the value of the haul at about €13.75 million.
Seven killed in Tbilisi jail riot
TBILISI - Seven prisoners were killed in Georgia yesterday when police used firearms to put down a riot by inmates trying to break out of a jail in the capital.
... "Our information is that seven people died in total. All the dead are prisoners. Two of them have already been identified," said an official.