A short look at what is happening in the world this morning.
Rifkind out of race for Tory leadership
LONDON - Former foreign secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind has withdrawn from the race for the leadership of the Conservative Party.
Mr Rifkind had received the public support of seven MPs, but was trailing badly in polls of Conservative activists and voters.
His departure leaves four men in the race to succeed Michael Howard - bookies' favourite David Cameron, former chancellor Kenneth Clarke, shadow home secretary David Davis and shadow foreign secretary Liam Fox. - (PA)
No night work for Iranian women
TEHRAN - Female civil servants at Iran's culture ministry and female journalists at the state newspaper and news agency must be out of the office by dusk to be with their families, a directive has said.
The directive was issued yesterday by culture minister Mohammad Hossein Saffar-Harandi, one of a batch of hardline cabinet ministers brought in by president Mahmoud Ahamdinejad who won a landslide election in June.
"Owing to the sensitive role of women in the family and in raising children, women employees are banned from staying at the office after 6 pm," the Tosea newspaper said. - (Reuters)
US death row appeal denied
WASHINGTON - The US Supreme Court has declined to review the case of a California death-row prisoner whose attorneys argued that the prosecutor had racially discriminated in selecting the trial jury.
The judges yesterday denied the appeal of Stanley Williams, the black founder of the Crips gang in Los Angeles, who was convicted on four counts of robbery and murder arising from two incidents in 1979. - (Reuters)
Norway smoking ban a success
OSLO - A ban on smoking in Norwegian bars, restaurants and night clubs has been a huge success in improving staff health, a government study has shown. The study showed that staff breathing had improved, nicotine in their urine had been virtually wiped out and air quality was cleaned up by the ban. - (Reuters)
Nobel literature judge resigns
BERLIN - A member of the Swedish Academy that will award this year's Nobel prize for literature tomorrow has attacked last year's surprise winner, Elfriede Jelinek, dismissing her work as "whingeing, unenjoyable, violent pornography".
The Swedish author Knut Ahnlund said yesterday he was quitting the academy in disgust over the decision to award the 2004 prize to the Austrian novelist. - (Guardian Service)
Italians to strike over budget
ROME - Italy's three main trade unions have called a four- hour general strike for November 25th to protest against the 2006 budget proposal of Silvio Berlusconi's government. - (AP)
Space tourist back down to Earth
MOSCOW - A Russian Soyuz capsule has touched down in Kazakhstan, bringing a Russian cosmonaut, a US astronaut and an American space tourist back to Earth.
The two-man crew returned home yesterday after half a year in orbit on the International Space Station. Millionaire scientist and entrepreneur Gregory Olsen spent just over a week with them in space, paying a reported $20 million for the trip. - (Reuters)
18 policemen die in Afghan ambush
KABUL - Eighteen Afghan policemen have died in an ambush by insurgents in the southern province of Helmand, according to a government spokesman, in the latest spate of violence by suspected Taliban militants. - (Reuters)