Today's other stories in brief
Brown to make Iraq statement
LONDON - British prime minister Gordon Brown will make a statement to parliament on Iraq next Tuesday amid signs the government is struggling to meet its schedule for withdrawing troops from the unpopular war.
Mr Brown announced last October that Britain would cut the number of soldiers based on the outskirts of the southern city of Basra to 2,500 from spring this year, and a senior government official said then that all could be home before 2009.
A rotation of British troops based in Iraq is due in the coming weeks, according to the Ministry of Defence, and that would typically be a time when overall numbers could be reduced. - (Reuters)
Talks open on new climate pact
BANGKOK - The first formal talks in the long process of drawing up a replacement for the Kyoto climate change pact opened in Thailand yesterday with appeals to a common human purpose to defeat global warming.
"The world is waiting for a solution that is long-term and economically viable," UN secretary general Ban Ki Moon said in a video address to the 1,100 delegates from 163 nations gathered in Bangkok.
The week-long meeting stems from a breakthrough agreement in Bali last year to start negotiations to replace Kyoto, which only binds 37 rich nations to cut emissions of greenhouse gases by an average of 5 per cent from 1990 levels by 2012. - (Reuters)
Captured Israeli alive - Hamas
DAMASCUS - Khaled Meshal, the head of Hamas, said yesterday that an Israeli corporal captured near Gaza two years ago was still alive. Meshal, who lives in exile in Damascus, said Gilad Shalit was being held captive and would not be freed until Israel agreed to release several hundred Palestinian prisoners.
Egypt has been helping to negotiate a deal under which about 1,000 prisoners would be released in stages. But Meshal said Israel rejected some of the names on the list. Among the prisoners Hamas wants freed is Marwan Barghouti, a popular former leader of the Fatah movement. - (Guardian service)
Death of English artist Fairhurst
LONDON - Tributes have been paid to Angus Fairhurst, one of the original Young British Artists who came to prominence in the 1990s, who has apparently committed suicide at the age of 41.
Fairhurst is thought to have taken his own life on Saturday, the same day as his last show closed, while walking in woodland in the picturesque spot of the Bridge of Orchy, in Argyll, Scotland.
The Kent-born artist studied art at Goldsmiths College in the 1980s, where he formed a lasting friendship and artistic collaboration with fellow students Damien Hirst and Sarah Lucas.
He was instrumental in organising the Freeze exhibition in 1988, which launched the careers of many of the Britart stars. - (PA)
Crocodile stolen from aquarium
OSLO - A thief walked unnoticed out of a Norwegian aquarium carrying a crocodile at the weekend and now risks losing a finger or two, the head of the aquarium said yesterday.
"I think whoever did this knew what they were doing," Bergen aquarium director Kees Oscar Ekeli told Reuters, suggesting the young crocodile was smuggled out in a bag during the busiest hours on Saturday.
The stolen reptile, named "Taggen" (Spike), is a 70cm (2.3 feet) long smooth-fronted caiman. It eats "a good mix of fish and meat" and can grow to about 2.5 metres. "It has a solid bite. You could lose a few fingers, but no vital organs," Mr Ekeli said. - (Reuters)