Today's other stories in brief
Labour lags Tories by 18 points in poll
LONDON - Britain's governing Labour Party lags the Conservatives by 18 percentage points, the biggest margin since Margaret Thatcher's heyday 21 years ago, an opinion poll has shown.
The Yougov poll, published by the Daily Telegraph on its website yesterday, showed Labour garnering 26 per cent of the vote, with the Conservative party on 44 and the Liberal Democrats on 17.
Britain was hit by the most wide-ranging wave of work stoppages in a decade yesterday, with more than 100,000 public sector employees, from teachers to coastguards, on a one-day protest strike. - (Reuters)
Parties to rejoin Iraqi government
BAGHDAD - Parties that walked out of Iraq's government last year have agreed to rejoin, prime minister Nuri al-Maliki said yesterday, in what could amount to a long-awaited political breakthrough.
The main Sunni Arab bloc, the Accordance Front, said it intended to submit a list of candidates for cabinet positions within days and could be back in Mr
Maliki's government soon. - (Reuters)
Newspaper may sue over spying
BERLIN - German news weekly Der Spiegel said yesterday it was considering legal action after the BND foreign intelligence agency admitted spying on one of its journalists.
The magazine says BND head Ernst Uhrlau has apologised to journalist Susanne Kölbl for the agency's monitoring of her e-mails to an Afghan politician in 2006. - (Reuters)
Syrian dissident gets longer term
DAMASCUS - A Syrian military court has sentenced leading dissident Kamal al-Labwani to three years in jail on charges of weakening national morale on top of a 12-year sentence he is serving, human rights activists said yesterday.
Labwani had undergone trial while in prison after inmates allegedly heard him insult President Bashar al-Assad. - (Reuters)
Man jailed for sex abuse in SE Asia
PHNOM PENH - A Cambodian court sentenced a 61-year-old German man to two years' jail yesterday for sexually abusing street girls aged 14 and 15 years, the trial judge said.
Jopen Reimund Hubert of Cologne, who was arrested in November during a police raid on a hostel, was also ordered to pay $2,000 €1,300 in compensation. - (Reuters)
Deby gives posts to opponents
N'DJAMENA - Chadian president Idriss Deby has brought four political opponents into his new government, handing over the defence and justice posts to opposition figures in a major concession to critics.
Mr Deby, who survived an assault by anti-government rebels on the capital N'Djamena and his presidential palace in early February, has come under pressure at home and abroad to loosen his grip over the former French colony. - (Reuters)
'Terror' suspects win court case
LONDON - Five men suspected by Britain of "facilitating terrorism" won a High Court battle yesterday against the freezing of their assets, in the latest blow to the government's security laws.
The five, who deny involvement in terrorism, had challenged financial sanctions imposed on them under two laws enacted by the government as "orders in council", a form of legislation which does not require parliament's approval. - (Reuters)