A round-up of other world news in brief
Nine Chinese kidnapped in central Sudan
KHARTOUM - Kidnappers have snatched nine Chinese oil workers in central Sudan, the third such incident in the past year in the oil-producing region, the Sudanese government and diplomats said yesterday.
The government blamed a Darfur rebel group, the Justice and Equality Movement, for the kidnapping, but diplomats said the captors were probably local tribesmen.
Chinese embassy spokesman Raymond Yu said the kidnappers abducted the workers on Saturday in South Kordofan, source of a large part of Sudan's oil wealth. - (Reuters)
Hackers steal from Sarkozy
PARIS - The French government was forced to admit that no one was safe from internet fraud yesterday after it emerged that thieves had managed to hack into French president Nicolas Sarkozy's personal bank account and siphon off cash.
The unknown hackers removed several small sums of money from the account after obtaining Mr Sarkozy's online access codes.
An inquiry was launched after the president noticed the transactions and complained to the police, said a government spokesman. - ( Guardianservice)
Tsvangirai expects deal at summit
MASVINGO - MDC opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai said yesterday that Zimbabwe's rival parties were expected to finalise a powersharing deal at a summit of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in Swaziland today. "Let's go to SADC . . . We said this issue should be finalised there. This time we won't fail," he told supporters at a rally.
Hours earlier MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa said the parties "were miles behind" in implementing the agreement. - (Reuters)
Strong quake east of Tonga
SINGAPORE - A strong earthquake with a magnitude of 7.1 rocked a remote area of the South Pacific Ocean east of the island nation of Tonga yesterday, the US Geological Survey said. There were no immediate reports of damage or injury. - (Reuters)