A roundup of today's other world stories in brief:
Nine hunters shot dead in Russian forest
MOSCOW- The bodies of nine men with gunshot wounds were found yesterday in a forest in the north Caucasus Republic of Kabardino-Balkaria, a Russian news agency reported. The men were found near two abandoned vehicles in a wooded area near the village of Lechinkai, local police told Interfax.
According to the police, the men were hunters from nearby Nalchik, Nizhny Chegem and Khasyan.
The North Caucasus is a complex patchwork of different religions and ethnic groups divided by rivalry and suspicion.
Russia has fought two wars in nearby Chechnya since the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
- (Reuters)
No date for talks on Palestinian state
JERUSALEM- US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice said yesterday she was not yet ready to set a date for a conference on Palestinian statehood, as Israel cited problems in the talks and cast doubt on implementing any deal.
Ms Rice, on her third visit in six weeks to the region, is trying to bridge gaps between both sides ahead of a US-sponsored conference expected in the last week of November in Annapolis, Maryland.
Israeli and Palestinian negotiators are at odds over a timeline for talks, and Israeli leaders told Ms Rice yesterday no deal would be implemented until Israel's security was assured.
- (Reuters)
Ex-Irish consul dies in custody
NICOSIA- Ireland's former honorary consul in Cyprus died of a heart attack while in custody in northern Cyprus on suspicion of antiquities smuggling, officials said.
Stephis Stephanou (64), honorary consul until Cyprus joined the European Union in 2004, died at a Turkish Cypriot hospital on November 1st. He had been detained since October 18th.
Both Greek and Turkish Cypriot doctors agreed he had died from cardiac arrest but Greek Cypriot pathologists said he had been beaten before dying.
"He had fractured ribs, both on his left side and right side, which were caused by another person. They were recent," state pathologist Eleni Antoniou said.
But Turkish Cypriot pathologists, who carried out their own postmortem on Saturday, said any injuries were caused during attempts to resuscitate him.
- (Reuters)
UN envoy meets Burmese general
YANGON- UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari met the Burmese junta's go-between with detained democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi yesterday, during a mission for reform complicated by the generals' move to expel the UN's top resident diplomat.
Mr Gambari had talks with Gen Aung Kyi, appointed liaison minister after the UN envoy's last visit in September, and foreign affairs minister Nyan Win. Mr Gambari hopes the meeting will lead to further talks.
- (Reuters)