A round-up of today's world news in brief
Finnish PM to step down as party head
HELSINKI – Finnish prime minister Matti Vanhanen, whose popularity fell in 2009 amid a political funding scandal, said yesterday he would not stand for re-election as head of his Centre Party in 2010 due to health reasons.
Mr Vanhanen’s decision means he will not be able to run for a third term as prime minister in the 2011 parliamentary elections.
In the past year, the Centre Party, along with most of the country’s other parties, has been tied up in a political funding scandal. The next parliamentary elections are due in spring 2011. – (Reuters)
Assault charge for Amy Winehouse
LONDON – British singer Amy Winehouse has been charged in connection with
an assault on Saturday night at a theatre in Milton Keynes, police said yesterday.
The Grammy award- winning singer voluntarily attended a police station in the Buckinghamshire town with her lawyer yesterday afternoon, police said in a statement.
Winehouse (26) was charged under the name Amy Civil with a public order offence and common assault.
In July, she ended her two-year marriage to Blake Fielder-Civil. – (Reuters)
Pakistan orders security for press
PESHAWAR – Pakistani authorities ordered “foolproof” security for journalists across the country yesterday, a day after a suicide bomber attacked a press club in Peshawar.
The attack was the latest in a surge of militant strikes in Peshawar which began when the army went on the offensive against Pakistani Taliban militants in South Waziristan.
Reporters have been attacked in Pakistan’s ethnic Pashtun tribal regions along the Afghan border and elsewhere, but the blast was the first on a reporters’ club in a city. – (Reuters)
Woman held over first lady threat
WASHINGTON – US authorities arrested and charged a woman in Hawaii last week for allegedly threatening to kill US president Barack Obama’s wife, Michelle, days before the Obamas were due to arrive in the state for the Christmas holiday.
Kristy Lee Roshia was arrested by the US Secret Service after determining she had made the threat and had information about where the Obama family would be staying. – (Reuters)