A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Taliban seize Italian journalist
KABUL -The Taliban said yesterday they had captured an Italian journalist who they said was spying for British troops in southern Afghanistan, along with two Afghan colleagues.
Guerrilla spokesman Qari Mohammad Yousuf said the reporter worked for La Repubblica, which in Rome said it had lost contact with reporter Daniele Mastrogiacomo in Kandahar province since Sunday. - (Reuters)
US couple poisoned
MOSCOW -An American woman and her daughter, both of whom fell ill mysteriously during a trip to Russia last month, had been poisoned with thallium, hospital officials revealed yesterday.
The deadly metal is the same substance originally blamed for the poisoning in London of former KGB spy Alexander Litvinenko.
Marina Kovalenskaya (48) and her daughter Yana (25) flew to Moscow last month from their home in Los Angeles for a family wedding. They fell ill on February 24th.
The women are recovering after being given an antidote, said the Moscow clinic treating them. - (Guardian service)
Serbia candidacy for EU 'possible'
BRUSSELS -Serbia could win the status of a candidate for European Union membership as early as next year if its government resumes full co-operation on war crimes suspects, EU enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn said yesterday.
"Achieving candidate status in 2008 is ambitious but under the best circumstances it can be possible," Mr Rehn told a news briefing after talks with Serbian president Boris Tadic. - (Reuters)
Carbohydrate cut key to weight loss
CHICAGO -A study of four popular diets found that women put on the one with the least carbohydrates - the Atkins plan - lost at least twice as much weight as those on the others. "Many health professionals, including us, have either dismissed the value of very low carbohydrate diets for weight loss or been very sceptical of them," said Christopher Gardner, assistant professor of medicine at the Stanford Prevention Research Center in California, lead author of the study. "But it seems to be a viable alternative for dieters," he added. - (Reuters)