A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Egyptian police shoot bombing suspects dead
CAIRO - Egyptian police in the Sinai peninsula have shot dead two men suspected of organising bombings which killed 67 people in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh in July.
They were killed on Wed- nesday night in an exchange of fire with police in the Mount Halal area, near where another suspect had been shot dead earlier in the day.
A man who was driving the car they were in was arrested and confessed to carrying out the Sharm el- Sheikh bombings, the Interior Ministry said in a statement. - (Reuters)
Labour seeks to hold Cook seat
LIVINGSTON - Labour is facing an electoral cliff- hanger in the party's biggest test of voter appeal since the May general election.
Voters went to the polls yesterday in Livingston where Labour is defending a 13,000 majority in the Westminster seat made vacant by the death of former Foreign Secretary Robin Cook.
People also went to the polls - but in smaller numbers - in Glasgow Cathcart, the Scottish Parliament byelection triggered by the resignation of Lord Watson, now serving 16 months for fire-raising at an Edinburgh hotel.
In Livingston, the SNP claimed that TV and press pictures of protester Walter Wolfgang (82) being ejected from the Labour conference had gone down badly with voters. - (PA)
Polish coalition stalemate goes on
WARSAW - The two centre- right parties which won the most votes in Poland's weekend election emerged from their first round of coalition talks yesterday saying they were no closer to forming a government or agreeing upon a list of priorities. - (AP)
Arrest of ex-Chad leader sought
BRUSSELS - Belgium has issued an international arrest warrant for Chad's former leader Hissene Habre, charging him with atrocities during his 1982-90 rule. Habre, who lives in exile in Senegal, is being pursued under Belgium's "universal jurisdiction" laws. - (AP)
Call for funds to fight avian flu
MANILA - Animal health experts have urged southeast Asian countries to help raise funds and to endorse a global plan to curb avian flu, which has killed 66 people and led to an estimated $15 billion in losses for the poultry trade.
The World Organisation for Animal Health, the Food and Agriculture Organisation and the World Health Organisation plan to hold a bird flu conference in December to raise the $102 million they say is needed. - (Reuters)
First novel to be published
NEW YORK - Truman Capote's long-lost first novel, Summer Crossing, discovered among a cache of the author's papers last year, will be published next month by Random House.
Random House publisher Gina Centrello said the manuscript of Summer Crossing, which Capote began in 1943, was among the papers in a box of documents put up for sale in 2004 through Sotheby's by a relative of Capote's former house-sitter.
The book will be published on October 25th. - (Reuters)
Moss checks into rehab in US
LONDON - Model Kate Moss (31) has checked into a US rehab clinic. She is reportedly receiving treatment at the Meadows centre in Arizona after allegations of cocaine abuse. - (PA)
US may ban beluga caviar
WASHINGTON DC - The US government is preparing to ban imports of beluga caviar in an effort to help prevent extinction of the sturgeon that produces the prized eggs. - (PA)