A roundup of today's other stories in brief.
Sri Lankan general dies in bomb attack
PANIPITIYA - One of Sri Lanka's top generals was assassinated yesterday by a suspected Tamil Tiger suicide bomber, stoking fears of a return to civil war.
Three other people were killed by the bomber, who rammed his motorbike into an army convoy near the capital, officials said. - (Reuters)
Prince of Wales pays £3.3m in tax
LONDON - The Prince of Wales has revealed for the first time how much tax he pays. Charles's annual accounts showed that the heir to the throne paid about £3.3 million (€4.8 million) in tax.
His private income, from the Duchy of Cornwall, rose to more than £14 million (€20.3 million).
Previous financial reports only included a figure combining tax and personal expenditure. - (PA)
13 die in Brazil gangland gunfight
SAO PAULO - Police killed 13 suspected gang members in shoot-outs early yesterday after authorities foiled a plot to launch a new wave of attacks against officers on the fringes of Brazil's largest city, Sao Paulo, officials said.
Ten suspected members of the First Capital Command gang were shot dead in an exchange of gunfire with police in the suburb of Sao Bernardo do Campo, and three were killed in the Diadema suburb. - (AP)
New treatment for epilepsy
LONDON - Scientists in America have developed a treatment for epilepsy which they say could help millions of people with the condition.
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology hope to try out the neurological pacemaker, which detects and treats seizures before they happen, this summer. The procedure is based around an existing treatment known as vagus nerve stimulation.
A small electrical device is planted in the body which sends regular electrical pulses to the brain. - (Guardian service)
Islamists to stone rapists to death
MOGADISHU - Somalia's newly powerful Islamists said they will stone to death five rapists, in what some fear is the latest sign of a plan to install a hardline Islamic regime like Afghanistan's Taliban. - (Reuters)
After gay marriage comes gay divorce
MADRID - A year after legalising gay marriage, Spain is now seeing its first gay divorce, complete with a custody fight over the couple's dogs, a newspaper reported yesterday.
The claimant said in a petition he had dedicated his life to the relationship, giving up a modelling career and abandoning his dog- hairdressing business to follow his partner, who had found work in France. - (Reuters)
Warning on drug deaths in Europe
BRUSSELS - Deaths from illegal drugs in Europe are at their highest to date and show no signs of dropping, the European Commission has warned.
Latest estimates claim about 1.5 million Europeans every month take cocaine and 12 million take cannabis - a quarter on a daily basis. - (PA)
Bush on N Korea: 'We don't know'
WASHINGTON - President Bush has said the United States does not know what North Korea's intent is regarding a possible missile launch.
"The North Koreans should notify the world of their intentions, what they have on top of that vehicle," Mr Bush said. "So we don't know, we don't know. That's part of the problem. "It's a non-transparent society that ought to be sharing its intentions with the rest of the world." - (Reuters)