A round-up of today's other stories in brief.
Actor Richard Widmark dies, aged 93
LOS ANGELES -Actor Richard Widmark, who earned an Oscar nomination playing a psychopath in 1947's film noir Kiss of Death,has died aged 93.
Widmark, whose long career was marked by playing villains, tough guys and cowboys, died on Monday at his home in Roxbury, Connecticut, the London Times reported.
His most memorable role may have been his first. As Tommy Udo, he gleefully pushed a wheelchair-bound woman down a flight of stairs in Kiss of Deathwith a maniacal laugh that made a lasting impression on moviegoers.
"One will remember that nasty little creep with the wild eyes and high-pitched laugh, neurotic to the core, which Richard Widmark has turned into one of his finest roles," Raymond Borde and Etienne Chaumeton wrote in A Panorama of American Film Noir 1941-1953. Widmark told an interviewer that the laugh was born of nervousness. - (Reuters)
South Korea in warning to North
WASHINGTON -South Korean foreign minister Yu Myung-hwan said yesterday that major powers were losing patience with North Korea's failure to produce a full declaration of its nuclear programmes as agreed in a 2005 deal.
Speaking at a news conference with US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, he said North Korea must meet its commitment to provide a complete and correct declaration of its nuclear activities, which was promised for the end of last year. "Time and patience is running out. We hope North Korea will submit a declaration as soon as possible," he said. - (Reuters)
Bomb at Afghan market kills 8
KABUL -A car bomb exploded in a market in the southern Afghan province of Helmand yesterday, killing at least eight people and wounding 17, police said.
Taliban insurgents have vowed to intensify attacks on Afghan and foreign troops countrywide, launch a wave of suicide bombings and attack supply lines from Pakistan this year in their campaign to overthrow the pro-western Afghan government. - (Reuters)
Alcohol 'bad for pregnancy'
LONDON -Women should drink no alcohol during the first three months of pregnancy, despite uncertainty over whether the odd drink could harm their baby, a government watchdog said yesterday.
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence said there was limited evidence that drinking in the early stages of pregnancy may be linked to a higher risk of miscarriage. - (Reuters)
Dialogue with scholars urged
PARIS- The World Council of Churches, which groups the main non-Catholic Christian churches, urged its members yesterday to open a dialogue with Muslim scholars seeking inter-faith co-operation to promote justice and peace.
The Geneva-based WCC said it wanted to organise discussions on theology and ethics with signatories of A Common Word, a call for Christian-Muslim dialogue issued by 138 Islamic scholars last October and welcomed by many Christian churches. - (Reuters)
Online plan for Shakespeare
LONDON -A US library and a British library plan to reproduce online all 75 editions of William Shakespeare's plays printed in the quarto format before the year 1641.
The Bodleian Library in Oxford and Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington DC have joined forces to download their collections, building on the work of the British Library which digitized its collection of quarto editions in 2004. - (Reuters)