A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Pluto moved to new planet category
PRAGUE - The question of whether Pluto is a real planet, hotly debated by scientists for decades, came to a head yesterday when the global astronomers' body proposed a definition of a planet that raises their number from nine to 12.
Under this definition Pluto would remain a planet but would fall into a new category called Plutons, which are distinguished from classical planets in that they take longer than 200 years to orbit the sun.
It would be joined in this category by two other celestial bodies, Xena and Charon, while another, Ceres, would be known as a dwarf planet. - (Reuters)
21 killed in Iraq attacks
BAGHDAD - Security forces battled armed gangs and insurgents in two Iraqi cities yesterday as bomb attacks killed 21 in the capital.
British troops and armoured personnel carriers rushed to Basra as armed gangs fought with Iraqi forces for more than an hour in the mainly Shia city.
Police killed six insurgents in Mosul, a religiously divided city 390km north of Baghdad and the scene of considerable recent violence, including a suicide attack on a Kurdish political party on Tuesday in which nine died. - (Reuters)
Sex trafficking ring broken up
NEW YORK - A sex trafficking ring that smuggled Korean women in to the United States to work in brothels has been cracked and 31 people arrested.
Seventy women were in custody yesterday for questioning to see if they were victims of the ring that trafficked prostitutes between brothels in cities including New York, Washington and Philadelphia. - (Reuters)
Carter jnr wins Nevada primary
WASHINGTON - Jack Carter, the son of former US president Jimmy Carter, has won the Nevada Democratic primary for the US Senate and will face Republican incumbent John Ensign.
Making his first try for elective office, Mr Carter won the primary race with 76.5 per cent of the vote, according to an unofficial tally by the secretary of state's office. - (Reuters)
African leaders accused on Aids
CAPE TOWN - Zackie Achmat, South Africa's leading Aids activist, has accused African leaders of shirking their responsibility to fight the disease. Mr Achmat said leaders should be more vocal and criticised South Africa health minister Manto Tshababala- Msimang's advocacy of garlic, beetroot, potatoes and lemon to combat Aids.
"We want to hear from the African Union, we want to hear not about garlic and lemon juice, we want to hear real voices," Mr Achmat said at a protest in Cape Town to demand anti-retroviral treatment for infected prisoners. - (Reuters)
Abbas, Haniyeh talks to resume
GAZA - Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas and prime minister Ismail Haniyeh, a leader of the militant Hamas group, say they will renew negotiations to form a unity government that might ease international isolation.
In southern Gaza, a Palestinian boy was killed yesterday in fresh violence between Fatah gunmen and members of a Hamas-led police force. - (Reuters)