Today's other stories in brief
Russia makes military threat over regions
MOSCOW - Russia warned yesterday that it could use military force to protect its "compatriots" in Georgia's breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia if they were attacked.
Valery Kenyaikin, the Russian foreign ministry's special envoy for the ex-Soviet Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), said Moscow was "doing everything to avert a military scenario. But if a war is unleashed, we will have to defend our compatriots even through military means.
"We will use every means to do this; there should be no doubt about this," he told reporters. - (Reuters)
Snipes jailed for three years
OCALA - A "very sorry" Wesley Snipes, star of the Blade movies, was sentenced to three years in prison on Thursday for wilfully failing to file US income tax returns from 1999 through to 2001.
Snipes was convicted in February on three misdemeanour counts.
US district judge William Terrell Hodges handed down the maximum sentence and said he felt it was important to create a general deterrent against tax defiance. - (Reuters)
Slovak law may overwhelm press
BRATISLAVA - Slovakia's president signed a disputed media Bill into law yesterday, ignoring an outcry by groups who say it undercuts press freedom and backslides on the EU newcomer's democratic commitments.
Pushed through by the leftist government this month, the law forces the media to print responses from anyone they have reported on.
The media may not edit the responses and fear they will be overwhelmed by politicians' reactions to critical articles. - (Reuters)
Shark kills man near San Diego
SOLANA BEACH - A man was killed by a shark in the ocean near San Diego yesterday, the first person to die in a shark encounter off the southern California coast in almost 50 years.
The man was swimming with a group of athletes at Solana beach, north of San Diego, when he was attacked. - (Reuters)
Four more die in suicide wave
TOKYO - At least four people have died by inhaling fumes from detergent mixed with other chemicals in a wave of suicides in Japan, officials said yesterday.
The deaths reportedly bring the number of similar cases to almost 50 this month. The chemicals are easily available and there is a danger of fumes spreading to bystanders or rescuers. - (Reuters)
Food crisis is global - UN head
VIENNA - Rising food prices have developed into a global crisis, United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-moon said yesterday, as prices hit record levels.
"This steeply rising price of food has developed into a real global crisis," Mr Ban told journalists in Vienna. - (Reuters)