Today's other stories in brief
Olmert, Abbas agree to speed up peace talks
JERUSALEM - Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas agreed yesterday to accelerate US-backed peace talks after critics warned Israel not enough was being done to get a deal this year.
The negotiations, which US President George Bush hopes will yield an agreement on Palestinian statehood before he leaves office next January, have been stalled by disputes over Israeli plans to build new homes near Jerusalem and Mr Olmert's insistence on putting off talks on the fate of the Holy City.
- (Reuters)
Eight policemen killed in Baghdad
BAGHDAD - Iraq's military said eight policemen were killed and more than 40 wounded in eastern Baghdad yesterday as they tried to defuse rockets that had been prepared for an attack. The security forces were responding to rockets fired at two nearby army bases. - (Reuters)
Sarksyan wins Armenian election
YEREVAN - Prime minister Serzh Sarksyan won Armenia's presidential election in the first round, an exit poll showed on Tuesday, but the opposition said voting was marred by beatings and ballot-stuffing.
Mr Sarksyan, who has said he would pursue policies followed by President Robert Kocharyan during his decade in office, won 57 per cent of the vote, way ahead of his nearest opposition challenger, according to the exit poll.
Opposition leader Levon Ter-Petrosyan, a former president, scored 17 per cent, according to the poll carried out for Armenian public television.
- (Reuters)
'Atlantis' crew prepare to land
FLORIDA - Shuttle Atlantis crew members prepared yesterday for their planned touchdown at the Kennedy Space Center in central Florida after delivering Europe's first permanent orbital laboratory to the International Space Station.
The weather at the Cape Canaveral seaside spaceport was expected to be nearly perfect for Atlantis to descend through the skies and land at 9:07am (14.07 GMT) today, completing a 13-day flight. - (Reuters)