A round-up of today's other stories in brief.
Jihad leader among dead in Gaza blast
GAZA -A senior commander of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement was among at least five people killed and 40 wounded in an explosion in the Gaza Strip late yesterday, a group spokesman and local medics said.
The spokesman accused Israel of mounting an air strike that destroyed a house, and vowed revenge for the death of Ayman Fayed, better know as Abu Abdallah.
An Israeli military spokeswoman said she was aware of no such action. - (Reuters)
Eurosceptic Czech Klaus re-elected
PRAGUE -Right-wing Czech economist Vaclav Klaus won a fresh mandate yesterday to challenge European integration and the campaign to stop global warming with his election as president for a second term.
The monetarist professor has long divided the Czech political scene and enraged some other European leaders over his fierce opposition to shifting more power to Brussels.
As the central European country's president for another five years, he will not have much day-to-day executive power but he will have a strong base to voice his opinions with less need to temper his words because he cannot stand for re-election. - (Reuters)
Cuba to free seven of 59 dissidents
MADRID -Cuba will free seven of 59 dissidents held since March 2003 in the first such release since last August, Spain's foreign minister Miguel Ángel Moratinos said yesterday.
The dissidents will be freed for health reasons, Spanish radio said, and newspaper El País reported on its website that four of them will be sent to Spain together with their families.
The dissidents were held after a crackdown ordered by Fidel Castro. - (Reuters)
Swiss to vote on expelling criminals
BERNE -Swiss citizens are to vote in a referendum on a controversial proposal to automatically deport foreign criminals.
The right-wing Swiss People's Party (SVP) said yesterday it had gathered 210,770 signatures in favour of the proposal - the subject of a controversial poster campaign that showed three white sheep kicking a black sheep off the Swiss flag - easily beating the 100,000 names needed for a national referendum.
The SVP initiative wants the automatic deportation of foreigners who commit "intentional homicide, rape and other serious sexual crimes, violent crimes". - (Reuters)
Pontiff to meet Bush on US visit
WASHINGTON -Pope Benedict XVI will meet US president George Bush for talks on promoting religious liberty and advancing Middle East peace when he makes his first trip to the United States as the Roman Catholic pontiff, the White House said yesterday.
The pope, who will visit Washington and New York in April, will meet Mr Bush on April 16th, on a six-day trip that includes meetings with US Catholic and other religious leaders. - (Reuters)