A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Chirac calls for end to national rail strike
PARIS - French President Jacques Chirac has called for negotiations to end a nationwide rail strike which has caused commuter chaos and poses a new threat to his government, just days after urban riots abated.
The strike, which began on Monday evening, disrupted trains across France yesterday as four trade unions at the SNCF railway operator pressed their demands over pay and protested what they say will be a gradual privatisation of the company.
Mr Chirac reiterated promises that SNCF would not be privatised. - (Reuters)
6m children dying annually, UN says
ROME - Hunger and malnutrition are killing nearly six million children a year and more people are malnourished in sub- Saharan Africa this decade than in the 1990s, according to a new UN report.
Many of the children die from treatable diseases, including diarrhoea, pneumonia, malaria and measles, said the report by the Rome-based UN Food and Agriculture Organisation. - (Reuters)
Lula loses ground in poll over scandal
BRASILIA - Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva would lose next year's presidential election to the opposition's Jose Serra because of a government corruption scandal, a new poll has shown.
The poll also showed that Lula's approval rating fell to an all-time low of 46.7 per cent compared to 50 per cent in September. - (Reuters)
Nestlé baby milk contaminated
ROME - Italian police have seized about 30 million litres of baby milk produced by Swiss food giant Nestlé after tests showed it was contaminated with traces of ink used in the packaging.
Nestlé said the chemical substance was not harmful, but announced it was recalling the infant food in four European countries, including Italy, because of the problem, which related to Tetra Pak cartons. - (Reuters)
Satirist's appeal to Italian MPs
MILAN - One of Italy's best- known satirists, Beppe Grillo, has launched an appeal to clean up Italy's parliament, buying a full-page advertisement in the International Herald Tribune.
In the advert, which was bought with funds raised through Grillo's popular website, the abrasive stand- up comedian asked 23 Italian parliamentarians who have been convicted of various crimes and are still in office to resign. - (Reuters)
Dylan poems sell for $78,000
NEW YORK - Poems written by Bob Dylan as a university student have sold for $78,000 (more than €66,000) at a New York auction. The collection, called Poems Without Titles, was written in 1960 by the aspiring poet then known as Robert Zimmerman.
The 16-pages of pencil scrawls were signed "Dylan" or "Dylanism" - thought to be the first time he tried out the pseudonym.- (PA)
Glitter denies child molestation
HANOI - British glam rocker Gary Glitter (61) has denied child-molestation allegations in Vietnam, telling police he was just teaching English to young girls, according to state media.
"When they met me, they all told me that they were older than 20," the official Thanh Nien newspaper yesterday quoted Glitter, whose real name is Paul Francis Gadd, as saying. - (Reuters)
Nepali rebels say violence over
KATHMANDU - Nepal's Maoist rebels say they are ready to end years of violence and rejoin the political mainstream. The move yesterday confirms a breakthrough announced by Nepali political leaders visiting New Delhi last week. - (Reuters)