Other stories from around the world in brief
UN chief seeks early climate change deal
GENEVA -The world should not wait until next year to cobble together a new climate change pact, United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-moon said yesterday.
Mr Ban, addressing a ceremony for the 20th anniversary of the UN climate panel, said countries negotiating a successor deal to the Kyoto Protocol should aim for a meaningful breakthrough in Poznan, Poland, in December.
Delaying major advances until the end of 2009, when a Copenhagen summit will aim to finalise an accord, may be ill-advised, he said. - (Reuters)
Straw defends Brown's record
LONDON -British justice secretary Jack Straw sprang to the defence of prime minister Gordon Brown yesterday, saying there would be no leadership challenge and that reports of divisions at the top of government were wrong.
Talk of infighting grew this weekend after finance minister Alistair Darling admitted the government had failed to get its message across. He also warned that the British economic downturn could be the worst in 60 years. - (Reuters)
Kremlin critic shot dead
NAZRAN -The owner of an opposition internet news site in Russia's troubled Ingushetia region was shot dead yesterday after police detained him, his colleagues said.
Magomed Yevloyev, owner of the Ingushetiya.ru internet site, was a vocal critic of the region's Kremlin-backed administration, which is accused by critics of crushing dissent and free speech. - (Reuters)
Crime crackdown pledge in Mexico
MEXICO CITY -Mexican president Felipe Calderon vowed yesterday to step up a crackdown on crime, a day after more than 150,000 Mexicans marched to protest a wave of gruesome murders and kidnappings.
In Mexico city on Saturday, demonstrators filled the capital's historic Zocalo square and thousands marched in other cities, including along the US-Mexico border, where increasingly brazen drug gangs are battling each other for control of smuggling routes. - (Reuters)
Olmert presses Abbas for deal
JERUSALEM -Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert, poised to resign next month in a graft scandal, pressed Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas yesterday to move urgently towards fulfilling Washington's wish for a peace deal this year.
Ahead of talks, Mr Olmert's aides said the Israeli leader planned to ask Mr Abbas to draft a joint document of understandings before Mr Olmert's Kadima party chooses his successor on September 17th. - (Reuters)
25th teen dies in London stabbing
LONDON -A 14-year-old boy has been stabbed to death in east London, the 25th teenager to die in a knife or gun attack in the British capital this year, police said yesterday. The boy was stabbed late on Saturday night. - (Reuters)