A brief look at today's world news
SA authority to appeal Zuma ruling
JOHANNESBURG:South Africa's prosecuting authority will apply for leave to appeal against a court decision to throw out ruling ANC leader Jacob Zuma's corruption case, it said yesterday.
The national prosecuting authority said it had not made a decision on whether to recharge Mr Zuma. The decision is likely to raise political tensions in South Africa, where Mr Zuma's supporters accuse president Thabo Mbeki of meddling in the case to undermine his rival. - (Reuters)
Four Russian soldiers killed
MOSCOW:Four Russian soldiers were shot dead in the southern region of Ingushetia yesterday, Russian news agencies reported, in the latest attack on federal forces in the increasingly unstable North Caucasus republic.
The bodies of the four interior ministry servicemen were found with gunshot wounds by an armed patrol near the village of Galashki yesterday afternoon, an aide to Russia's interior troops commander said. - (Reuters)
Anti-Jewish feelings on rise
UNITED STATES:Anti-Muslim and anti-Jewish feelings are rising in several European countries, according to an international survey released yesterday.
The Washington-based Pew Research Centre's global attitude survey found 46 per cent of Spanish, 36 per cent of Poles and 34 per cent of Russians view Jews unfavourably, while the same was true for 25 per cent of Germans and 20 per cent of French. - (Reuters)
Prices blamed for rise in hungry
ITALY:Rising food prices are partly to blame for adding 75 million people to the ranks of the world's hungry in 2007 and lifting the global figure to roughly 925 million, Jacques Diouf, head of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, said yesterday ahead of the release of an official report today. - (Reuters)
Russian deal with separatist regions
RUSSIA: Russian president Dmitry Medvedev signed friendship agreements with the leaders of Georgia's breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia yesterday. The treaties formalise military, diplomatic and economic co-operation between Moscow and the regions, which Russia recognised as independent states after its war last month with Georgia. - (Reuters)
Actor Ryan O'Neal and son arrested
UNITED STATES: Actor Ryan O'Neal and his son were arrested yesterday on suspicion of possession of drugs at their home. Officers went to O'Neal's home in Malibu yesterday for a routine check on his son Redmond, who was given three years' probation after pleading guilty to drug possession charges in June. - (AP)
Earthquake hits southern Iran
IRAN: A five- magnitude earthquake struck southern Iran yesterday near the port of Bandar Abbas, the site of a major oil refinery, Iranian media reported - (Reuters)