A round-up of today's other stories in brief
BERLIN - Designated German chancellor Angela Merkel said yesterday she was "very optimistic" that coalition talks between her conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) and the Social Democrats (SPD) would succeed.
Germany's two largest parties - the SPD, the conservative CDU and its sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU) - are hoping to reach a power-sharing accord by November 12th.
The CDU leader said that working groups set up to discuss energy, finance, the budget, labour and other topics hoped to complete their work by the middle of next week. - (Reuters)
African leaders to meet on UN plan
ADDIS ABABA - The African Union (AU) is to hold a one-day summit on Monday on its plan for an enlarged United Nations Security Council which has contributed to an impasse that is threatening to scuttle reform of the world body.
A commission of 10 African heads of state or government, led by Sierra Leone's president, Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, will present the summit with a progress report, the pan-African body said. African nations hold the key to expansion of the Security Council, which has to decide on issues of war, peace, sanctions and peacekeeping. - (Reuters)
Fathers may get new jail rights
STOCKHOLM - Sweden's prison service may allow babies to live in prison with their fathers, putting men on an equal footing with women in prison parenting, a prison service official said yesterday.
"It would be a possibility for men, but only in rare cases where social services find it is in the child's best interests," prison official Elisabeth Lager said.
Only nine or 10 women prisoners a year are given custody of their babies inside Swedish jails, said Ms Lager, and making this possible for men was not a question of gender equality but one of minimalising the effects on babies of their parents' imprisonment.
Once over a year old, children are not permitted to live behind bars. Like jailed mothers, the fathers would live with their babies in open prisons. - (Reuters)
Governor critical of relief effort
TALLAHASSEE - With many Floridians still struggling to find food, water, ice and fuel after Hurricane Wilma, Governor Jeb Bush yesterday said that he took responsibility for frustrating relief delays in the state.
"We did not perform to where we want to be," the governor told a news conference in Tallahassee, adding that criticism of the federal response was misdirected. "This is our responsibility." - (PA)
Trains collide head-on in SA
JOHANNESBURG - Dozens of passengers, including two Japanese tourists, were injured when South Africa's luxury Blue Train smashed head-on into another train in the early hours of yesterday.
The accident involving the Blue Train, which transports tourists between Pretoria and Cape Town, occurred near De Aar in the semi-arid southern Karoo region. Police said that no one had been killed. A local radio station said that five passengers were seriously injured. - (Reuters)
Militia leaders jailed in Nigeria
LAGOS - A Nigerian judge jailed 10 members of a tribal militia yesterday for involvement in deadly street violence in the latest sign of a crackdown on ethnic nationalists across Nigeria.
The 10 include two leaders of the Oodua People's Congress, a militia drawn from the Yoruba tribe. The arrests followed street fighting between rival factions in Lagos last Friday. Police said two people were killed, but newspapers put the death count at eight. - (Reuters)