A round-up of today's other stories in brief...
Pakistan arrests Mumbai attack suspects
ISLAMABAD- Pakistan confirmed yesterday the arrest of two men named by India as planners of the militant attack on Mumbai, but a senior Indian official described Pakistani actions so far as "eyewash".
Two operations commanders with the Lashkar-e-Taiba jihadi group, Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi and Zarrar Shah, were being held, Pakistani prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani said. - (Reuters)
US executions fall to 14-year low
DALLAS- Executions in the US fell to a 14-year low of 37 in 2008, according to a new report by the Death Penalty Information Centre, an independent think tank and research centre.
It estimated the total number sentenced to death in 2008 would be 111, the lowest since capital punishment was reinstated in 1976. - (Reuters)
A sniff of biblical perfume
ROME- A team of Franciscan archaeologists digging in the biblical town of Magdala in what is now Israel say they have unearthed vials of perfume similar to those that may have been used by the woman said to have washed Jesus's feet.
The ointments were found at the bottom of a swimming pool, alongside hair and make-up objects. "If chemical analyses confirm it, these could be perfumes and creams similar to those that Mary Magdalene . . . used to anoint Christ's feet," said lead archaeologist Fr Stefano de Luca. - (Reuters)
830,000 accidental child deaths a year
LONDON- Car crashes, drownings and other accidents kill 830,000 children worldwide each year, a surprisingly large figure that marks a growing but often ignored problem, the World Health Organisation said yesterday.
The report is the first to assess the global scale of the problem. - (Reuters)
Run-off poll for Ghana president
ACCRA- Ghana's presidential election will be decided in a December 28th run-off between the two leading contenders after neither gained more than half the vote in the first round, the country's electoral commission said yesterday. - (Reuters)