Today's other stories in brief
Flooded areas of England on alert again
LONDON - Flood-damaged regions of central and southern England are on alert again today as more heavy rain was forecast to move in from the Atlantic this afternoon.
Up to nine hours of persistent rain will bring a risk of further flooding in saturated areas of the Severn and upper Thames Valley, the environment agency has said.
Damage to communications could hamper efforts to restore water to 350,000 homes in Gloucestershire, where engineers are working round the clock on the polluted Mythe pumping station.
Severn Trent Water and the army said bottled supplies of water, and those brought in by tanker, now amounted to more than six million litres a day and were running well, with reports of vandalism stemming from a handful of "stupid" but minor incidents. - (Guardian service)
Bomber kills 13 near Red Mosque
ISLAMABAD - A suspected suicide bomber has killed at least 13 people and wounded 71 others at a hotel near Islamabad's Red Mosque, after religious students occupied the mosque and demanded the return of its pro-Taliban cleric.
The explosion yesterday occurred soon after police fired tear gas to disperse protesters who for several hours took control of the mosque which the government reopened to the public yesterday - two weeks after a bloody army siege dislodged militants. - ( AP)
22 South Korean hostages alive
GHAZNI - The remaining 22 South Koreans held hostage in Afghanistan are alive, a Taliban spokesman said yesterday, and the group will not set further deadlines as it negotiates with the government on freeing them.
A government official also said the Christian volunteers, whose leader was killed two days ago , were alive, adding an Afghan delegation was in talks with the militants. - ( Reuters)
US empire-building, says Gorbachev
MOSCOW - Former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev yesterday criticised the US, and president George Bush in particular, for sowing disorder across the world by seeking to build an empire.
Gorbachev, who presided over the break-up of the Soviet Union, said Washington had sought to build an empire after the cold war ended but had failed to understand the changing world. - (Reuters)
4m children under five die annually
GENEVA - Four million children under the age of five die every year due to environmental hazards including polluted air or water or exposure to chemicals, according to the World Health Organisation.
Poisonings, acute respiratory infections, diarrhoeal diseases and malaria carried by mosquitoes which thrive in dirty water accounted for most of the toll, the UN agency said. - (Reuters)
Musharraf may team with Bhutto
ISLAMABAD - Speculation is intensifying that Pakistan's embattled president Pervez Musharraf and former prime minister Benazir Bhutto will form a power-sharing pact, as television channels reported they met secretly yesterday in Abu Dhabi. - (Reuters)
Ohio trio have wings clipped
PAINESVILLE, Ohio - Three Ohio men who pleaded guilty to soliciting sex have been ordered to take turns dressing in a bright yellow chicken costume outside the local courthouse.
Painesville judge Michael Cicconetti said the punishment referred to the "World Famous Chicken Ranch", a legal brothel in Nevada. - (AP)