A round-up of today's other stories in brief...
Clinton says no to second term or presidency
WASHINGTON – US secretary of state Hillary Clinton said yesterday she has no desire to continue in the job if President Barack Obama wins a second term in 2012. And she said she does not want to be president either. When Ms Clinton was asked in a CNN interview during a trip to Cairo if she wanted a second stint as America’s top diplomat, she said “No” and then moved on to rule out future jobs as defence secretary and vice- president. As for the presidency – not interested.
“I had a wonderful experience running. I’m very proud of the support and the opportunity. But I’m going to be moving on,” she said.
– (Reuters)
Tibetan monk burns to death
BEIJING – A Tibetan Buddhist monk burned himself to death on the anniversary of protests against government control of Tibet, writes Clifford Coonan.
The 21-year-old, named Phuntsog, poured petrol over himself and set himself alight. He was a monk at the Kirti Monastery in Aba, a mainly ethnic Tibetan part of Sichuan province that erupted in defiance against Chinese control three years ago. There were widespread protests in Tibetan areas in March 2008, when Buddhist monks and other Tibetan people loyal to the exiled Dalai Lama confronted police and troops.
Bolshoi chief quits over erotic photos
MOSCOW – The director of the Bolshoi Theatre’s ballet company has stepped down after erotic photographs of him appeared on the internet in a suspected dirty tricks campaign to force him from his job.
Gennady Yanin left his post last week after an e-mail containing a link to a website containing the photographs was sent to thousands of addresses in Russia and abroad. The Bolshoi’s long-time soloist, Yan Godovsky (37), was named as Yanin’s replacement this week. – (Guardian service)