A round-up of today's world news in brief
Spain confirms March date for election
MADRID- The Spanish government has called a general election for March 9th, formally launching what is shaping up as a close race between the ruling Socialists and opposition conservatives.
Prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero is seeking a second term after being elected in March 2004, when he defeated a conservative government devastated by the Madrid train bombings that killed 191 people.
Polls show the Socialists have a lead of 2-3 per cent over the conservative Popular Party. - (AP)
Prankster may have threatened US ships
WASHINGTON- A radio prankster may have broadcast the threat against US ships that brought the US and Iran close to confrontation in the Strait of Hormuz last week, a newspaper that covers the US navy has said.
The weekly Navy Times quoted US navy officers in the Gulf as saying the threatening audio message may have been broadcast by "Filipino Monkey", a notorious radio heckler in the area who listens in to ship-to-ship radio traffic and then jumps in with insults.
US officials initially said they believed the message came from one of the five Iranian speedboats that were manoeuvring around the three US warships at the time, but have since said they are not certain of its origin. - (Reuters)
At least 8 killed in roadside bomb
KARACHI- At least eight people were killed yesterday when a roadside bomb exploded in Pakistan's biggest city, Karachi, police said, the latest attack in a wave of violence in the south Asian country.
The blast occurred in a low-income neighbourhood close to one of the city's industrial areas. - (Reuters)
Charges against SA official dropped
JOHANNESBURG- Charges against the man leading an investigation into alleged corruption by South Africa's former police chief, Jackie Selebi, have been dropped, Sapa news agency reported yesterday.
Sapa said the charges against Gerrie Nel, a senior official of the Scorpions elite crimefighting unit who was arrested last week, had been dropped. - (Reuters)
Barenboim made Palestinian citizen
BERLIN- Israeli pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim has been granted Palestinian citizenship for his work in promoting cultural exchange between young people in Israel and the Arab world.
The Argentine-born musician is believed to be the first person in the world to possess both Israeli and Palestinian passports. - (Guardian service)
Sean O'Brien wins TS Eliot prize
LONDON- Sean O'Brien (55) has been named the winner of the biggest cash award in UK poetry.
The poet, who grew up in Hull and lives in Newcastle, scooped the £15,000 (€19,730) TS Eliot prize for The Drowned Book, his latest collection.
O'Brien is the only poet to win the Forward prize for best poetry collection three times. - (PA)
Nigeria seeks £22bn from tobacco firms
NIGERIA -The Nigerian government has launched a £22 billion (€28.93 billion) lawsuit against three multinational cigarette manufacturers it accuses of trying to hook young Africans on tobacco in a bid to replenish a market that is dwindling in the West.
The government is seeking the damages from British American Tobacco (BAT), Philip Morris and International Tobacco Ltd over what anti-smoking activists in Nigeria have characterised as a cynical disregard for Africans through strategies that glamorise cigarettes in ways that are banned in Europe. - (Guardian service)