A round-up of other stories in brief
Chad declares state of emergency
N'DJAMENA -Chad yesterday declared a state of emergency along its eastern border with Sudan's Darfur region and in its remote desert to tackle a fresh flare-up of ethnic violence that killed at least 20 people.
President Idriss Deby's government said the 12-day emergency period applied to the eastern Ouaddai and Wadi Fira regions and the northern part of Chad known as the BET. - (Reuters)
Zimbabwe violence 'rising'
HARARE -Zimbabwe's main opposition said yesterday that president Robert Mugabe's government was escalating a violent crackdown against its members, but said it would not walk away from talks with the ruling party.
Nelson Chamisa, spokesman for the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), said the opposition was worried by increased cases of violence against its supporters.
Mr Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF and the MDC are holding talks mediated by South African president Thabo Mbeki, as part of a regional drive to end Zimbabwe's political and economic crisis. - (Reuters)
Migrants a boon to economy - study
LONDON -Migrants to the UK are more skilled and often more reliable and hardworking than British workers, and are fuelling the country's economic growth to the tune of £6 billion (€8.6 billion) a year, says the first official study of their impact published yesterday.
The report for the UK government's migration impact forum also concludes that migrants on average earn more and so pay more tax than UK workers.
The interior ministry and work and pensions department study says that the arrival of hundreds of thousands of Polish and other east European workers has had "no discernible" impact on unemployment and has led to only a "modest dampening of wage growth" for British workers at the bottom end of the earnings league. - (Guardian service)
Poll shows Polish opposition ahead
WARSAW -Poland's main opposition party is ahead of the ruling conservative Law and Justice party before Sunday's parliamentary election, an opinion poll showed yesterday.
The poll was conducted by SMG KRC for private television TVN. A poll released earlier yesterday had shown the two parties running neck-and-neck. - (Reuters)
Mitt Romney outspends Giuliani
WASHINGTON -Republican Mitt Romney spent far more than his party rivals on the 2008 White House race in the last three months, pumping $21 million (€14.8 million) - more than double what he raised - into his bid to catch frontrunner Rudy Giuliani.
Mr Giuliani, a former New York mayor who leads Republicans in national opinion polls, spent
about $13 million on the race in the quarter ending on September 30th, according to a report filed on
Monday with the US Federal Election Commission. - (Reuters)
Accused to testify against Simpson
LOS ANGELES -Two of the men accused of staging an armed robbery with OJ Simpson have agreed to give evidence against him.
Charles Cashmore (40) told a judge yesterday that he would plead guilty to a felony and testify against Mr Simpson and four others over the theft of sports collectables in a Las Vegas hotel room.
Walter Alexander (46) of Mesa, Arizona, said he would plead guilty to conspiracy to commit robbery, a felony. He could face between one and six years in prison.
Cashmore could testify that guns were involved in the confrontation with two sports memorabilia dealers, his lawyer said. - (Reuters)