A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Iranian leader issues further threat to Israel
TEHRAN- Iran's president said that the Lebanese and the Palestinians had pressed a "countdown button" to bring an end to Israel.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who triggered outrage in the West two years ago when he said Israel should be "wiped off the map", has often referred to the destruction of the Jewish state but says Iran is not a threat.
"With God's help, the countdown button for the destruction of the Zionist regime has been pushed by the hands of the children of Lebanon and Palestine," Mr Ahmadinejad said. - (Reuters)
Earthquake in China kills three
BEIJING- An earthquake hit a tea-making city in southwest China yesterday, bringing down houses and killing at least three people, one a four-year-old, and injuring 300, Xinhua news agency said.
The quake shook the city of Pu'er and the surrounding area in mountainous Yunnan province in the early morning. - (Reuters)
Voters boycott Senegal election
DAKAR- Voters stayed away in large numbers from Senegal's parliamentary elections yesterday as the main opposition parties boycotted the ballot to protest against what they called President Abdoulaye Wade's "monarchy".
Many polling stations in the capital Dakar and other cities across the small west African state saw only a trickle of voters during the day and were almost deserted well before they closed. - (Reuters)
Somalis accuse al- Qaeda of bombing
MOGADISHU- Somali prime minister Ali Mohamed Gedi accused al- Qaeda of being behind a suicide bombing that killed seven people outside his home in Mogadishu yesterday and said its militants had to be eliminated.
Five soldiers and two civilians were killed when the bomber detonated a vehicle rigged with explosives at the gates of Mr Gedi's residence in a heavily guarded neighbourhood of the Somali capital. - ( Reuters)
Mudslide destroys geyser valley
MOSCOW- A powerful mudslide has destroyed Eurasia's only geyser valley in the remote Kamchatka peninsula in Russia's Far East, Russian Vesti-24 television news channel reported yesterday.
The first television footage from the hard-to-reach area showed the valley flooded with grey melting snow, mud, fallen trees and stones. No plumes of white steam from geysers could be seen. - ( Reuters)
White farmers paid by Zimbabwe
HARARE- Zimbabwe has started paying out money to former white farm owners in compensation for land seized by President Robert Mugabe's government to resettle blacks, according to a public notice issued yesterday. The government has already allocated Z$10 billion for the purpose. This is nominally worth €30 million on the official market, but fetches only about €135,000 on the thriving black market. - (Reuters)
'Hoodie' gains dictionary entry
LONDON- "Hoodie" is among hundreds of new words and phrases included in an updated version of an English dictionary that can be downloaded and accessed by mobile phone for the first time from today. Ever since Tory leader David Cameron told people to "hug a hoodie" - a young person who wears a hooded sweatshirt, regarded by some as a potential hooligan - the phrase has become commonplace. Now its usage has been formally recognised in the latest edition of the Collins English Dictionary. - (Reuters)