A round-up of other stories in brief
Erdogan says Iraq incursion will go ahead
ANKARA -Turkish prime minister Tayyip Erdogan has said the Turkish army will go ahead with an operation against Kurdish guerrillas in northern Iraq, but Baghdad said yesterday that the threat of a major incursion appeared to have diminished.
Mr Erdogan held talks with US president George W Bush on Monday to push Washington to crack down on some 3,000 Kurdistan Workers' Party separatists using northern Iraq as a base for attacks in Turkey. - (Reuters)
Seven US soldiers killed in Iraq
BAGHDAD -Seven US personnel were killed in Iraq on Monday, the US military said, making 2007 the deadliest year for US forces in the country.
One of the highest daily tolls in weeks, Monday's deaths took the number of US soldiers killed in Iraq this year to 853. - (Reuters)
Olmert expects Syria to attend talks
JERUSALEM -Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert said yesterday he expected the United States would invite Syria to a US-led conference on Palestinian statehood, calling the participation of Israel's long-time nemesis appropriate.
Mr Olmert made no mention of any preconditions for Syrian attendance but appeared to issue a cautionary note to Damascus not to try to push the future of the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in a 1967 war, on to the meeting's agenda. - (Reuters)
Sarkozy promises to return to Chad
PARIS -French president Nicolas Sarkozy promised yesterday to return to Chad to bring home a group of European humanitarian activists accused of abducting African children in Chad.
"I will go and get those still there, whatever they may have done," Mr Sarkozy said. "The role of the president is to look after all French people."
Mr Sarkozy visited Chad on Sunday to secure the return of three French journalists and four Spanish air hostesses who had been detained by Chadian authorities in connection with the operation. - (Reuters)
China to expand Antarctica stations
BEIJING -China is to expand two scientific research stations on Antarctica and plans to build a third on the territory, large trunks of which are being claimed by several countries eager to tap its mineral resources.
A total of 189 construction workers were due to leave for the South Pole from Shanghai yesterday as part of the country's 24th scientific expedition to Antarctica, Xinhua news agency said. - (Reuters)
Paparazzi testimony request rejected
LONDON -France has rejected a request to compel paparazzi who pursued Princess Diana's car into a Paris road tunnel where she died in a high-speed crash, to testify at an inquiry into her death, the British coroner said yesterday.
Evidence from the photographers is considered vital in helping the jury at a London inquest decide what happened on August 31st, 1997, when Princess Diana and Dodi al-Fayed were killed. - (Reuters)
French union set to join strike
PARIS -France's moderate CFDT union said yesterday it would join other labour groups protesting planned reforms to their generous pension system in an open-ended strike expected to cause transport chaos as of next week.
Paris public transport workers are expected to agree to link up with the stoppage today, escalating an industrial dispute over reforms president Nicolas Sarkozy says are vital to the economy. Energy workers are also considering joining. - (Reuters)