A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Ahtisaari to head Kosovo negotiations
NEW YORK - United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has chosen former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari to head negotiations on the future of Serbia's disputed province of Kosovo.
A senior UN official said that Mr Ahtisaari, who returns to Balkan peacekeeping after six years, would set up base "most probably in Vienna" and was expected in Kosovo later this month. - (Reuters)
Colombia warns rebels to disarm
BOGOTA - The Colombian government has warned thousands of far-right paramilitaries that it will attack them if they break a promise to disarm this year. "Those refusing to voluntarily disarm will be confronted militarily," the government said in a statement released to the media.
The ultimatum came in response to the decision last month by the banned United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia to suspend plans to disband about 10,000 fighters in protest at the imprisonment of one of its leaders. - (Reuters)
Holocaust gets day in its memory
NEW YORK - The 191- member United Nations General Assembly has designated January 27th as an annual commemoration day for the six million Jews and countless other people murdered in the Nazi Holocaust during the second World War.
The watershed resolution, agreed to by acclamation after two days of speeches, is aimed at making the new International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust a symbol against genocide for future generations. - (Reuters)
Briton jailed for internet fraud
LONDON - A Briton has been jailed for four years for masterminding an eBay internet auction swindle in which computer account details were stolen from their users, who then also had their identities assumed.
David Levi led six other people in a gang which netted almost £200,000 through a "phishing" fraud - the practice of stealing goods after tricking computer users into revealing their bank details. - (PA)
'One in four' has alcohol problem
LONDON - A quarter of people in England and almost 40 per cent of men have alcohol problems, but doctors are failing to identify the vast majority of cases, according to a British government study just published.
The Department of Health report found that 26 per cent of adults aged 16 to 64 were drinking more than the recommended limits.
Some 38 per cent of men and 16 per cent of women were consuming more than the safe levels of 21 units a week for men and 14 units a week for women. About 3.6 per cent or 1.1 million adults in England suffered from alcohol dependence, the report said. - (PA)
Report clears Canadian PM
OTTAWA - Members of Canada's ruling Liberal Party ran an elaborate kickback scheme to fund election campaigns illegally, but Prime Minister Paul Martin knew nothing about the wrongdoing, a report into a damaging government corruption scandal concluded yesterday. - (Reuters)
Paganini prize for winning violinists
LONDON - The winners of an annual violin competition in Moscow are to have a new prize: a chance to play for a year on a million-dollar violin once owned by the 17th century virtuoso Nicolo Paganini.
The Moscow-based Violin Art Foundation bought the rare violin - the first from Paganini's collection to come up for auction - for £568,000 ($1.01 million), a spokesperson for the auctioneers Sotheby's confirmed yesterday. - (PA)