A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Niger warns aid agencies of expulsion
NIAMEY - Niger has accused aid agencies of exaggerating the threat of severe food shortages next year to boost their funds and threatened to expel any organisation operating without government blessing.
Health minister Ary Ibrahim said reports of a looming crisis were aimed at harming Niger, after a World Food Programme dossier warned last week that millions of people could face severe food shortages if donor countries let aid funding slip.
"After a good rainy season, the food crisis is finished," Mr Ibrahim said. "I categorically deny these tendentious reports aimed at discrediting our country." - (Reuters)
Lopez Obrador has clear poll lead
MEXICO CITY - Mexico's leftist presidential front runner Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has a strong 12-point lead over his closest rival for the election next July, a new poll showed yesterday.
The survey by the daily newspaper El Universal put Mr Lopez Obrador, the former mayor of Mexico City, well ahead with 34 per cent support and conservative Felipe Calderon of the ruling National Action Party in second place with 22 per cent. - (Reuters)
Russian forces blamed on Beslan
MOSCOW - Russian security forces were to blame for failing to prevent the deadly raid on a school in the Russian town of Beslan by armed pro-Chechen rebels, the head of a local enquiry said, local news agencies reported yesterday.
More than 300 people, half of them children, died in the three-day hostage at Beslan's School No 1, in the southern region of North Ossetia, in September 2004.
"There is no doubt that the seizure of the Beslan school is first and foremost the fault of law-enforcement bodies," Stanislav Kesayev, a member of the North Ossetian assembly who also headed the local investigation team, said. - (Reuters)
Seven dead in Canaries storm
MADRID - Hundreds of thousands of people were without electricity and phone services were disrupted yesterday after a powerful storm ripped through Spain's Canary Islands, killing seven in the popular holiday destination. The death toll rose after strong winds blew a man off his roof, which he was apparently trying to repair on the island of Fuerteventura as the storm approached. - (Reuters)
Food cartons contain ink traces
ROME - An Italian consumers' association said yesterday it had found numerous food products sold in Tetra Pak cartons that were contaminated with traces of ink, not just the baby milk products that have been the target of a high-profile recall.
Italian police last week confiscated baby milk products from Swiss food giant Nestlé and Dutch group Numico.- (Reuters)