A round-up of other stories in brief
Chad claims hundreds of rebels killed
CHAD -Chad's army said it had killed several hundred rebel fighters when it attacked a column of insurgents in fierce gun battles near the eastern border with Sudan's Darfur region yesterday.
"The partial toll is around 50 [ rebel] vehicles seized, around 40 vehicles destroyed, several hundred dead [ on the rebel side] and several prisoners of war," the army said in a statement read on national television.
There was no immediate independent confirmation of the toll. - (Reuters)
Bin Laden to address Europe
DUBAI -Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden will address the people of Europe in a message to be posted on the internet "soon", an Islamist website said yesterday.
"Soon, God willing, [ we will post] a new message to the European people from the lion Imam who defeated the Americans and tyrants, Sheikh Osama bin Laden," said the pro-al Qaeda website which regularly posts messages from the militant leader. - (Reuters)
Georgians to vote on joining Nato
TBILISI -Georgians will vote on January 5th in a plebiscite to decide if their ex-Soviet state should push ahead with its drive to join Nato, a Georgian presidential spokesman said yesterday.
They will also decide, while voting in presidential elections, if parliamentary polls should be brought forward from autumn 2008 to spring. - (Reuters)
Zuma leads ANC presidential race
JOHANNESBURG -South African politician Jacob Zuma leads the ruling African National Congress presidential race after winning the support of the party's influential Women's League, and the majority of the provinces.
The party's provincial branches made their nominations this weekend ahead of the ANC's conference in December to choose a new leader, with Mr Zuma winning five out of nine regions, local media reported.
Traditionally the ANC president would also become the national president in elections scheduled for 2009 because of the party's grip on South African politics. - (Reuters)
US 'ordered' OSCE to boycott poll
MOSCOW -President Vladimir Putin yesterday accused the US State Department of being behind a decision by international experts not to monitor Russia's parliamentary elections on Sunday.
Mr Putin claimed the Americans had instructed the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to boycott the poll. The Bush administration's aim was to discredit the election, he said.
The OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, the largest election monitoring body, dismissed Mr Putin's allegation as "nonsense". - (Guardian service)
Egyptian editor jailed over photo
CAIRO -An Egyptian newspaper editor was sentenced to a year in jail yesterday for publishing a front-page photograph of an Egyptian television and film actress that was found to be indecent, court sources said. The verdict against editor Hatem Mamdouh Mahran was the latest in a string of rulings that have handed jail terms to at least 12 journalists since September on charges ranging from defaming President Hosni Mubarak to misquoting the minister of justice.
The sources said Mahran's al-Nabaweekly newspaper, known for testing conservative Egyptian sensibilities, had published a picture in January of actress Hala Sidky that prosecutors said "reveals a sensitive part" of her body. They did not say which part of her body. - (Reuters)