More world news in brief.
Airline to face action on crash
PARIS -A French judge has ordered US airline Continental Airlines and five individuals to stand trial over the crash of an Air France Concorde that killed 113 people, a prosecutor's statement said yesterday.
The judge said the defendants, including a man who played a major part in the development of the supersonic airliner, should be tried for involuntary manslaughter.
The Concorde crashed in flames minutes after take-off from Paris' Charles De Gaulle airport on July 25th, 2000, killing 109 on board and four people on the ground.
Subsequent investigations concluded that a narrow strip of metal had fallen on to the runway from a previous Continental flight. This then burst a tyre on the departing Concorde sending shrapnel flying into the plane's oil tanks which caught fire. Continental has denied any responsibility for the crash. - (Reuters)
US offer for 'shield' insufficient
WARSAW -The US offer to Poland in exchange for having parts of an anti-missile "shield" based on its territory is insufficient, a Polish ruling party source said yesterday.
"The US proposal is insufficient," the source said under the condition of anonymity. "Today prime minister Donald Tusk will talk to American vice-president Dick Cheney to see if this still can be changed." The source said Washington's proposed financial support for Poland's air defences was much lower then Warsaw had expected.
The source added that Mr Tusk's centre-right cabinet would issue an official statement on the US offer this morning.
Washington wants to place 10 ground-based interceptor rockets on Polish soil as part of global missile defences it says will protect the US and its European allies from "rogue states" like Iran. - (Reuters)
UN vote on Zimbabwe next week
UNITED NATIONS -The United States said yesterday it expects the UN Security Council to vote next week on sanctions against Zimbabwe's leaders for last week's widely criticised election but South Africa suggested it would oppose the resolution.
US ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad told reporters after a closed-door council session that he had formally submitted the US-drafted resolution to the full 15-nation council.
The sanctions would impose an arms embargo on Zimbabwe and travel bans and asset freezes on President Robert Mugabe, the central bank governor and 10 other top government officials. - (Reuters)
Arms depot in Sofia explodes
SOFIA -A series of powerful explosions rocked an arms disposal depot storing 1,500 tonnes of obsolete munitions outside Sofia yesterday, shaking apartment blocks and panicking thousands, authorities and eyewitnesses said.
The explosions followed a fire at the complex near the village of Chelopechene on the eastern edge of the Bulgarian capital, interior ministry officials said.
They continued for some hours afterwards. But defence minister Nikolai Tsonev later said after an emergency cabinet meeting that the explosions were slackening.
Guards at the complex, which is attached to a military base that is being closed down, were evacuated. No casualties or injuries had been reported so far, interior minister Michail Mikov said. - (Reuters)
Olmert urges direct talks
ANKARA -Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert called yesterday for quickly starting face-to-face negotiations with Syria after a third round of indirect peace talks mediated by Turkey ended with an agreement to meet again.
"With the Syrians, we are talking seriously and, in my estimation, very soon the negotiations will have to be direct," Mr Olmert told an economic conference in the southern Israeli resort city of Eilat.
"They will not be able to continue in the mode in which they are currently being held," he said.
The third round of talks between the long-time foes started in Istanbul on Tuesday and ended yesterday with an agreement to hold a fourth round of indirect negotiations in Turkey in late July, a Turkish government source said. - (Reuters)
Abramovich resigns
MOSCOW -Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, owner of Chelsea soccer club, has resigned as a regional governor in Russia, the Kremlin said yesterday.
The Kremlin's press service said Mr Abramovich had asked to step down as governor of the Chukotka Autonomous District, a sparsely populated Russian region near Alaska, and this had been approved by president Dmitry Medvedev. - (Reuters)