Today's other stories in brief
International push for peace in Somalia
CAIRO - The United States, Europe and African countries pushed for peace in Somalia yesterday after heavy fighting in Mogadishu that killed nearly 400 civilians and wounded up to 700.
Diplomats from an international contact group on Somalia met in Cairo to discuss how to stop the fighting and staunch a torrent of refugees.
More bodies were expected to be unearthed in crumpled buildings after four days of battles that ended on Sunday and which aid agencies say were the bloodiest for 15 years. - (Reuters)
House owners end epic standoff
BEIJING - An isolated house perched on an island of earth in a 10m pit in the Chinese city of Chongqing - whose proud owners had refused to let it be knocked down by bullying developers - has been demolished, writes Clifford Coonanin Beijing.
The owners ended their three-year standoff with a developer seeking to relocate them to make way for a shopping centre, a struggle that elevated them to folk heroes fighting rampant development.
Wu Ping and Yang Wu moved out of their two-storey brick home in Chongqing on Monday, and it was toppled moments later, Xinhua news agency reported.
Mr Wu, a kung-fu teacher, and his restaurateur wife Ms Yang had rejected the developer's compensation offers.
A court had ordered them to leave by next week or face forcible removal. In the end they bowed to the bulldozers and settled for an apartment of the same size as their demolished one.
"I wanted to safeguard my dignity and lawful rights," said Wu Ping.
Hacker faces extradition to US
LONDON - The British computer hacker who spectacularly cracked the Pentagon system and embarrassed the American defence establishment now faces extradition to the United States, where a prosecutor has said he would like to see him "fry".
His lawyers complained yesterday of the "chilling and intimidating threat" made by the US authorities against the man who carried out the "biggest ever military computer hack" - from a room in his girlfriend's aunt's house in Crouch End, north London.
Gary McKinnon (41) yesterday lost his appeal against extradition to the US to stand trial on charges connected with hacking into the Pentagon and Nasa systems. - (Guardian service)
Whales clocked up 8,000km trip
LONDON - Researchers have shown that humpback whales travelling between breeding grounds off the west coast of Central America and feeding grounds off Antarctica clocked up more than 8,000km on one leg of their journey - the largest recorded journey by any individual mammal.
The researchers believe the whales are heading for warmer waters in which to give birth to their calves. - (Guardian service)