A round-up of today's other world news in brief
Pakistani jets kill 60 Islamist fighters in militant stronghold
MINGORA, Pakistan - Pakistani warplanes killed about 60 Islamist militants in a strike in the northwestern Swat Valley yesterday, the military said.
"Jet fighters pounded positions of the militants and killed 60 of them. Two of their training camps were also destroyed," military spokesman Maj Nasir Ali said.
Security forces have been fighting loyalists of a pro-Taliban cleric, Mullah Fazlullah, who has led a violent campaign to impose Taliban-style laws in Swat, a mountain valley once popular with tourists, for more than a year. Government forces also launched an offensive against the militants in the nearby Bajaur tribal region on the Afghan border in August.
Air strikes killed 12 militants there yesterday, a paramilitary official said. Pakistani tribal areas on the Afghan border are regarded as safe havens for militants linked to al-Qaeda and the Taliban. - (Reuters)
US extends visa waiver scheme
WASHINGTON - US president George W Bush yesterday announced that seven more countries will be added to the list of those whose citizens can travel to the United States without needing a visa.
Later this year citizens from the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and South Korea will be allowed visa-free entry as long as they have registered online before their trips and have tamper-proof, biometric passports. The countries will also have to share information about threats to Americans, Mr Bush said. - (Reuters)
Giant sandwich too tempting
TEHRAN - Iran failed to register what it said would be the world's largest sandwich in the Guinness Book of World Records after people rushed forward and began eating it - before it was measured.
Event organisers had planned to stuff the 1,500m-long sandwich with 700kg of ostrich meat and 700kg of chicken, and display it in a park in the capital Tehran.
But as the sandwich was being measured, chaos ensued. The giant snack was gone in minutes, a witness said, leaving the Guinness representatives with a dilemma. - (Reuters)
Eiffel power
PARIS - The Eiffel Tower is cutting down on its display of sparkling lights to set an example of energy saving, its management said yesterday.
The Eiffel Tower has twinkled for 10 minutes every hour on the hour during the evening since January 2000.
Now, to reinforce the message that energy must be saved for environmental reasons, the tower will sparkle for just five minutes every hour.
The tower's managers said the measure was mostly symbolic, as the 20,000 flashing light bulbs that produce the twinkling effect consume relatively little energy.
The 300m tower is France's most recognisable monument. It has become a popular activity for tourists to gather during the evening on bridges and squares to watch the spectacle. - (Reuters)
Austria wins seat on UN council
UNITED NATIONS - Austria narrowly won a coveted seat on the UN Security Council yesterday and diplomats said Vienna was lucky that only one country appeared to have confused the small nation with Australia.
Austria, which gets one of nine non-permanent seats on the council in 2009-2010, received 133 votes from the 192 UN member states, just five over the required two-thirds majority of 128.
While most of the other votes for the grouping went to the other two contenders Turkey and Iceland, one went to Australia, which was not competing for a seat.
UN diplomats said the most likely explanation for the mystery vote for Australia is that someone confused the two countries because of their similar spellings.
But, they said, the possibility could not be ruled out that it was an innocent joke or an attempt to annoy the Austrians.
Meanwhile, Iran, on whom sanctions have been imposed over its nuclear programme, lost its bid to win a two-year seat on the council when it was trounced by Japan in the election. Iceland, an apparent victim of the financial crisis that has ravaged its economy, also failed to get on to the council. - (Reuters)