Today's other stories in brief
Rice to visit Middle East in peace move
WASHINGTON - US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice yesterday announced plans to visit the Middle East next week to try to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace moves but analysts doubt she will make much headway.
Dr Rice will leave Washington on Sunday and plans to visit Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Israel and the Palestinian territories, her first trip to the region since a July visit during the month-long war between Israel and Hizbullah.
- (Reuters)
Top UN candidate defends record
LONDON - Ban Ki-Moon, the front runner in the race to become the next United Nations secretary general, defended himself yesterday against accusations that he was too weak to hold the post.
The South Korean foreign minister was top in the first two straw polls held at the UN Security Council but there was unease among diplomats at the UN and around the world that he might not be forceful enough to restore the organisation's battered reputation. Mr Ban acknowledged he had heard the criticism but insisted posts he had held in South Korea had prepared him. "The position of foreign minister of the Republic of Korea is a very challenging job," he said. - (Guardian service)
Two-day strike in Mexican city
OAXACA, Mexico - Petrol stations, banks and supermarkets shut their doors in the Mexican city of Oaxaca yesterday in a protest by business owners demanding the government end a political crisis in the tourist destination.
Businesses closed for a two-day strike to pressurise the federal government to act in an increasingly violent conflict between state governor Ulises Ruiz and protesters who want him to resign. - (Reuters)
Russia loans Cuba $355m
HAVANA - Russia yesterday extended a $355 million (€263.7 million) credit line to its former Cold War-era ally Cuba to buy cars, trucks and other equipment and services, during a visit by Russian prime minister Mikhail Fradkov. - (Reuters)
Musharraf's record challenged
LONDON - Amnesty International has accused Pakistan of widespread human rights violations in support of America's "war on terror" ahead of the visit by Pakistan's president, Gen Pervez Musharraf, to the UK today. Hundreds of terrorism suspects have been arbitrarily detained since 2001, many of whom have been tortured or forcibly "disappeared", according to Amnesty. - (Guardian service)