Today's other stories in brief.
Sharon to have surgery on skull today
JERUSALEM - Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon (78), still comatose after a massive stroke on January 4th, will undergo surgery this afternoon to close a hole doctors made in his head in previous operations, hospital officials have said.
This will be Mr Sharon's eighth operation since the stroke, including lengthy procedures to stop the bleeding in his brain and the removal of some of his intestine. He remains unconscious at Haddassah hospital in Jerusalem. - (Reuters)
Three more die in Turkish unrest
ISTANBUL - Hundreds of Kurds have clashed with police in southeast Turkey while in Istanbul, three people were killed as they fled a bus set ablaze by protesters, bringing the death toll in violence in the past week to 15. - (Reuters)
Suspected al-Qaeda activists held
RABAT - Security forces in Morocco are holding nine suspected al-Qaeda activists, whom local newspapers said were part of a ring which plotted bomb attacks in France, Italy and Morocco.
Morocco has been on alert since 2003 when suicide bombers killed 45 people in Casablanca. - (Reuters)
27 dead in US midwest storms
MEMPHIS - Thunderstorms- packing tornadoes and hail as big as grapefruits ripped through eight midwestern states in the US, killing at least 27 people, injuring scores and destroying hundreds of homes.
Tennessee was hardest hit, with tornadoes striking five counties yesterday and killing 23 people, including an infant and a family of four. - (AP)
Man cleared of Damilola murder
LONDON - A man has been cleared of murdering schoolboy Damilola Taylor (10), but the Old Bailey jury will resume its deliberations today on two brothers who are also accused of killing the boy. Hassan Jihad (20), Peckham, south London, left court without comment after being cleared following a three-month trial. - (PA)
17 survive US cargo plane crash
DOVER - A US air force cargo plane crashed and broke apart short of the runway at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware yesterday but all 17 people on board survived. Many of the survivors were taken to hospital, said air force spokesman Capt John Sheets.
The aircraft was due to fly to a US naval station in Spain before heading to Kuwait. - (Reuters)
Syrian playwright and poet dies
DAMASCUS - Syrian writer Mohammad al-Maghout, whose poems and plays fiercely criticised Arab regimes, has died aged 72, according to the official news agency Sanad. The agency said yesterday that Maghout had died after a long illness.
His work combined satire with descriptions of social misery and malaise, illustrating what he viewed as an ethical decline among regional rulers. - (Reuters)
Former minister held in Guinea
BISSAU - Guinea Bissau's security forces have detained a former interior minister on suspicion of helping rebels from neighbouring Senegal fighting its army.
The fighting is the worst for more than a decade . - (Reuters)
Soldiers killed in Kashmir shoot-out
JAMMU - Three Indian soldiers guarding the home of Indian Kashmir's chief minister were killed yesterday after a skirmish among the troops led to a shoot-out, police said.
Chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad was at home in Jammu, Kashmir's winter capital, but he was safe, they said. - (Reuters)