Other world stories in brief
Zimbabwe power talks deadlocked
JOHANNESBURG- Negotiations between Zimbabwe's ruling Zanu-PF and opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) are deadlocked after negotiators failed to agree on a power- sharing agreement, an MDC source said.
"The talks have reached a deadlock and cannot be moved forward," the MDC official said yesterday. "Apparently, the Zanu-PF negotiators were only mandated to negotiate around the vice-presidency and nothing else."
Senior negotiators from Zanu-PF and the MDC started the talks last Thursday. - (Reuters)
Mafioso arrested in clothes shop
ROME- A top Mafia boss belonging to a powerful Camorra crime clan has been arrested as he was shopping in a designer clothes shop near Rome.
Policeman Marco Morganti, who made the arrest, said Adriano Graziano was held as he was leaving the store in Valmontone, 50km southeast of Rome.
Mr Morganti said Mr Graziano was arrested late on Saturday on charges of criminal association, murder and extortion. - (AP)
Spot taken from McCain's face
BAKERSFIELD- Republican presidential candidate John McCain, who has suffered from skin cancer in the past, has had a spot removed from his face during a routine check-up in Phoenix, an aide said.
"At this point it was just a precautionary removal," the aide said on Mr McCain's campaign plane yesterday. She said the spot was covered by a bandage and was visible on his face.
Mr McCain has had four malignant melanomas - a potentially lethal type of skin cancer - surgically removed since 1993.
Three of them were not invasive but the fourth was and was removed from his left temple in 2000.
- (Reuters)
News agency head jailed in Iran
TEHRAN- An Iranian court has sentenced the former head of a news agency to jail for publishing lies and has also fined him, another news agency has reported.
Masoud Haidari was managing director of Iran's labour news agency ILNA, which had often reported on workers' protests and arrests of rights activists. It was closed by the authorities in July last year and recently reopened under new management.
Iran says it allows free speech. Iranian journalists say they have to tread carefully in their reporting to avoid having their publications closed. - (Reuters)
Killer 'blamed liberals and gays'
NASHVILLE- A man who opened fire inside a church, killing two people with a shotgun hidden in a guitar case, was apparently frustrated at being unable to find a job and blamed liberals and gays.
"It appears that what brought him to this horrible event was his lack of being able to obtain a job, his frustration over that, and his stated hatred of the liberal movement," the Knoxville police chief said of Sunday's incident at Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church.
Jim Adkisson (58) described his violent plans in a four-page letter found at his home, which also explained that his age and "liberals and gays" taking jobs had worked against him. - (Reuters)
Eta bombs Basque highway
BILBAO- Basque separatist group Eta has detonated a bomb among highway roadworks in Spain's Basque region, damaging construction vehicles and cabins but causing no injuries. The attack yesterday was Eta's first since the arrest last week of what the Spanish government said was its most active guerrilla unit. - (Reuters)