A round-up of today's other stories in brief
John Paul 'considered retiring' at 80
ROME -The late Pope John Paul seriously considered resigning in 2000 because of poor health and also thought of changing Church law so popes would bow out at age 80 and not rule for life, his former secretary discloses in a new book.
Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, the pope's private secretary for 40 years, also restates his conviction that the Soviet Union was behind the assassination attempt on the pontiff in 1981 because he was seen as a threat to its power. - (Reuters)
Iran blocks entry by UN inspectors
TEHRAN -Iran has barred 38 inspectors from the UN nuclear watchdog IAEA, the International Atomic Energy Agency, from entering the country, an Iranian politician was quoted by Iran's Isna news agency as saying yesterday.
The agency said the move was a "first step" in limiting co-operation with the IAEA, in line with a demand made by parliament after UN sanctions were imposed on Iran a month ago over its disputed nuclear programme. - (Reuters)
Talks on N Korea could resume
MOSCOW -Russia's chief negotiator says that six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear programme could start in February, Interfax news agency has reported. North Korea was optimistic about resuming the talks after a meeting in Berlin last week with officials from the United States, said Alexander Losyukov, who is also a deputy foreign minister. - (Reuters)
Police fire on Nepalese protests
KATHMANDU -Police fired at anti-government protesters in southeast Nepal yesterday and independent radio reported two people were killed in growing unrest that threatens to derail a peace process aimed at ending a long civil war.
Independent Kantipur radio said two people died when ethnic Madhesi from the country's south, who are critical of a newly passed interim constitution that brought Maoist rebels into the political mainstream, clashed with police. - (Reuters)
Unabomber wants papers returned
NEW YORK -The man known as the Unabomber, who waged a 17-year battle against what he considered the evils of new technology, is trying to stop the US government from selling his writings on the internet to provide compensation to his victims.
Theodore Kaczynski is arguing through his lawyers that more than 40,000 pages of documents should be returned to him.
He is objecting to plans to sell the papers in sanitised form, with the names of victims removed, which he claims violates his first amendment right to free speech. - (Guardian service)
'Big Brother' to be reviewed
LONDON -Channel 4 has announced it is launching a review into the Big Brother programme following the race row which has engulfed the show.
The channel's chairman, Luke Johnson, yesterday said Celebrity Big Brother would remain on air until its completion next week, but Channel 4 had commissioned a review of the "editorial and compliance processes" which support it. - (PA)
Trial for selling of Bulgarian babies
PARIS -Dozens of people have gone on trial for suspected roles in a network that recruited desperate pregnant women from Bulgaria, brought them to France and sold their newborns to childless couples.
The trial in Bobigny, north of Paris, centres on 22 babies who were sold between 2003 and 2005, mostly to couples within France's Roma communities, for between €3,000 and €7,500, prosecutors say. - (AP)