A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Al-Qaeda says Muslims have beaten Bush
DUBAI - al-Qaeda's deputy leader, Ayman al-Zawahri, said in a video aired yesterday that US president George W Bush's plans to withdraw troops from Iraq meant Washington had been defeated by the Muslims.
"Bush, you must confess that you have been defeated in Iraq and Afghanistan and you will be too in Palestine soon," he said in the video broadcast by Al-Jazeera television. - (Reuters)
Colombia battle leaves 14 dead
BOGOTA - At least 12 Marxist rebels and two soldiers were killed yesterday in a gunfight over coca-growing land in southern Colombia that the government is trying to wrest from the cocaine-smuggling guerrillas.
The battle took place in Meta province, where the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or Farc guerillas, killed 29 soldiers on a coca eradication mission last week, an army spokesman said. - (Reuters)
India seeks ban on French carrier
MUMBAI - A panel appointed by India's Supreme Court has recommended that a French aircraft carrier bound for an Indian ship-breaking yard not be allowed to enter the country because of worries of toxic waste.
Environmental group Greenpeace has urged Paris and New Delhi not to allow the decommissioned Clemenceau to reach a scrap yard in the western state of Gujarat next month without it first being 98 per cent decontaminated in France. - (Reuters)
Murder charges over stowaways
JOHANNESBURG - Three Ukrainian crewmen have been charged with murder after allegedly forcing seven Tanzanian stowaways to jump off a ship in South Africa's port of Durban, resulting in at least two deaths, police said.
The captain and two crew members are being remanded with bail set at rand 20,000 each. - (Reuters)
Old dancers will gather no moss
DETROIT - Older fans of the Rolling Stones have been invited to dance during a half- time Stones performance at the US Super Bowl next month.
Planners had originally sought people ages 18 to 45 to take the field and dance at Detroit's Ford Field on February 5th - an age cap that would make even the Stones too old for the action, but the US National Football League now says it will accept dancers aged 18 and above. - (AP)
Alcohol ban irks Dutch soldiers
AMSTERDAM - Dutch troops helping earthquake survivors in Pakistan have complained that while they are subject to an alcohol ban, Spanish and British soldiers laugh at their austerity and turn up drunk at their campfire.
"We were told before we arrived that alcohol was banned in this country or else very difficult to get hold of and we accepted this," one soldier told the Dutch daily De Telegraaf.
"The Spanish drive around with cars full of Heineken and the English laugh at us when they show up at our campfire drunk," another Dutch soldier said. - (Reuters)
Republicans out to ditch DeLay
WASHINGTON - About two dozen Republicans have promised to sign a petition calling for elections to replace Tom DeLay as majority leader in the House of Representatives, aides said yesterday.
"We have commitments for about 25 signatures. The letter calls for a leadership election for a permanent majority leader," said Matthew Specht, a spokesman for Jeff Flake, a conservative Arizona Republican.
Fifty House Republican signatures are needed to call elections, which would occur after the House reconvenes on January 31st.