A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Bin Laden's deputy threatens UK
LONDON:Osama Bin Laden's deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, has threatened retaliation against the United Kingdom for the recent award of a knighthood to writer Salman Rushdie.
In an audiotape uploaded on to an internet website often used by Islamic extremists Mr al-Zawahiri said al-Qaeda was preparing a "very precise response" to this alleged insult to Muslims. In his 20-minute message Mr al-Zawahiri told prime minister Gordon Brown that Britain's strategy in the Middle East had brought "tragedy and defeat upon you, not only in Afghanistan and Iraq but also in central London".
And he warned: "If you do not understand, listen, we are ready to repeat it for you."
Niger rebels free Chinese executive
NIAMEY:Tuareg-led rebels in northern Niger yesterday released a Chinese uranium executive they kidnapped four days ago, while his company suspended its activities in the desert region.
The Niger Movement for Justice (MNJ) said Zhang Guohua, an executive at China Nuclear International Uranium Corp (Sino-U), was free and waiting to be collected by the Red Cross. - (Reuters)
Independent Kosovo 'inevitable'
BELGRADE:The United States yesterday offered Serbia another 120 days of talks on the fate of Kosovo, but said independence for the breakaway province was "inevitable".
Russia has been resisting Western attempts to have the UN approve independence for Kosovo without Serbian agreement.
US assistant secretary of state Daniel Fried said Serbia and the province's ethnic Albanian majority would have one last, strictly limited, chance to agree a way forward. But he told reporters after meeting Serbian prime minister Vojislav Kostunica that the inevitability of independence "is an objective reality". (Reuters)
McCain's top aides quit
WASHINGTON:Republican John McCain's top two aides quit his struggling presidential campaign yesterday, dealing a sharp blow to the Arizona senator and casting doubt on the future of his 2008 bid.
Mr McCain said he would push ahead with his White House run despite the departures of manager Terry Nelson and longtime chief strategist John Weaver, which was announced as he took the Senate floor to defend president Bush's strategy in Iraq. (Reuters)
Man to die for killing 10 women
LOS ANGELES:A pizza delivery man was sentenced to death yesterday for the murders of 10 women and an unborn baby during the 1980s and '90s in Los Angeles neighbourhoods plagued by a crack cocaine epidemic. A jury in May recommended the death penalty for Chester Turner (40), and Judge William Pounders yesterday agreed. (AP)
Farc admits fault over prisoners
BOGOTA:Colombian Farc rebels accused of murdering 11 kidnapped legislators admitted yesterday they did not take proper care of the prisoners, a statement thought likely to help open talks aimed at freeing other hostages. (Reuters)