A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Tamil Tigers say civil war being resumed
COLOMBO - Sri Lanka's two-decade civil war is back on, a top Tamil Tiger said, as seven soldiers and three rebels were killed yesterday in the first army advance on rebel-held territory since a 2002 ceasefire.
S Elilan, the head of the Tamil Tigers' political wing in the restive eastern district of Trincomalee, said army troops had resumed an attempt to advance towards land they control in the east and had fired artillery and mortars at their territory in the north. - (Reuters)
25 drown as boat capsizes on river
FREETOWN - At least 25 people drowned after their boat capsized in heavy rain at the mouth of a river in Sierra Leone, the head of a boat owners' association in the west African country said yesterday.
"A wooden boat with about 50 passengers ... that left neighbouring Guinea for Sierra Leone on Saturday capsized along the Great Scarcies river when a wave struck it during a heavy downpour," Osman Kamara said. - (Reuters)
Pakistani poet in honours protest
ISLAMABAD - Pakistan's greatest living Urdu poet said yesterday that he had returned the country's highest civilian award to protest the policies of President Pervez Musharraf.
Ahmed Faraz (75) hopes that his action to return the Crescent Moon honour would promote the cause of restoring full democracy in Pakistan. - (Reuters)
Judge postpones Zuma trial
PIETERMARITZBURG - A South African judge postponed the corruption trial of former deputy president Jacob Zuma yesterday, further clouding the popular politician's presidential hopes.
Mr Zuma (64) was sacked by President Thabo Mbeki last year amid an arms procurement scandal.
His hopes of succeeding Mr Mbeki, who leaves office in 2009, hinge on the trial's outcome and speedy resolution. - (Reuters)
Deadly car bomb in Bogota
BOGOTA - At least one civilian was killed and 15 soldiers injured yesterday by a car bomb targeting a military convoy in Bogota, the army said.
The blast, a week before President Alvaro Uribe is set to start his second term, was set off by remote control in a working-class part of the city as military trucks passed by. - (Reuters)