Today's other stories in brief
Germany to stay on in Afghanistan
BERLIN - Germany's parliament voted yesterday to renew the deployment of its troops in Afghanistan for another year, defying public opinion which is strongly against the mission.
The Bundestag agreed to extend the mandate for up to 3,500 German troops to participate in Nato's 40,000-strong force. The mandate is controversial in Germany, which has only gradually expanded its role in overseas military missions since the second World War. - (Reuters)
Serbia offers €1m reward for Mladic
BELGRADE - Serbia yesterday offered a reward of €1 million for information leading to the arrest of top war crimes fugitive Ratko Mladic, 12 years after he was indicted for genocide in the Bosnia war.
Mladic is known to have been living in Belgrade until early 2006, allegedly with the protection of hardliners in the Serbian army. - (Reuters)
Dalai Lama visit 'a chance' for China
WASHINGTON - China should view the Dalai Lama's high-profile visit to Washington next week as a chance to listen to the exiled Buddhist spiritual leader who Beijing shuns as a Tibetan separatist, his envoy said yesterday.
Despite fierce Chinese lobbying, the Dalai Lama will receive the US Congressional Gold
Medal, the highest civilian honour Congress can bestow, after being hosted at the White House by President George W Bush the day before. - (Reuters)
Acquittals over boot camp death
MIAMI - A Florida jury acquitted seven former guards and a nurse of manslaughter yesterday in the death of a 14-year-old boy whose beating by the guards at a juvenile boot camp was caught on videotape.
The death of Martin Lee Anderson, who was sent to the detention camp for joyriding in his
grandmother's car, sparked widespread outrage, leading to accusations of a cover-up against then Gov Jeb Bush, and closure of Florida's boot camps. - (Reuters)
Bush repeats Castro insults
MIAMI - US president George W Bush called Cuban leader Fidel Castro a "cruel dictator" again yesterday, apparently unconcerned that the same comment angered Cuban officials at the United Nations last month. Mr Bush drew a standing ovation from the audience with his remarks. "In Havana, the long rule of a cruel dictator is nearing an end," Mr Bush said. - (Reuters)
Azerbaijan urged to free journalists
BAKU - Amnesty International has made a direct appeal to the Azeri government to release two journalists imprisoned for
writing a story critical of Islam. Samir Sadagatoglu and Rafik Tagi, from the weekly Senet newspaper, wrote a story which compared Islam unfavourably to Christianity. In May a court sentenced them to four and three years jail. - (Reuters)
French cameras focus on terror
PARIS- France will triple its number of surveillance cameras by 2009 as part of the fight against terrorism and street crime, interior minister Michèle Alliot-Marie said yesterday.
"The latest attacks in London were prevented thanks to their video surveillance system," she said. - ( Reuters)
Kennedy recovers after surgery
BOSTON - US Senator Edward Kennedy (75) had preventive surgery in Boston yesterday to repair a partially blocked carotid artery in his neck, his office said. The Democrat was doing well following the procedure. - (Reuters)