A roundup of today's other world stories in brief:
Bin Laden urges unified Iraq resistance
DUBAI- Osama bin Laden called on insurgent groups in Iraq to unify their ranks, in an audio recording aired by Al Jazeera television yesterday.
"The interest of the Islamic nation surpasses that of a group," said the speaker, who sounded like the leader of al-Qaeda. "The strength of faith is in the strength of the bond between Muslims and not that of a tribe or nationalism . . .
"I advise. . . our brothers, particularly those in al-Qaeda wherever they may be, to avoid fanatically following a person or a group," he said.
The Iraqi interior ministry said yesterday that violence in the country had dropped by 70 per cent since the end of June, when US forces completed their build-up of 30,000 extra troops.
- (Reuters)
Dozens injured in Israeli jail riots
JERUSALEM- Dozens of people were wounded in violent clashes between Palestinian inmates and prison guards at an Israeli jail yesterday.
At least 15 inmates and 15 guards were wounded during an early morning riot in a prison in Israel's southern Negev desert, an Israel Prisons Service spokeswoman said.
- (Reuters)
Sailor kills two in love triangle row
BAHRAIN- An American sailor involved in a love triangle shot dead two women colleagues then tried to kill himself yesterday.
The man, who has not been named, survived but was critically ill in hospital last night. Both women were pronounced dead at the scene in a barracks on the US naval support base in Bahrain.
- (AP)
Rice criticises Moscow policies
WASHINGTON- US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice criticised Moscow yesterday for using its oil and gas wealth as a "political weapon" and said democratic reforms would strengthen Russia's ties with Washington.
In a speech on the state of US-Russia relations, Dr Rice conceded there was a "certain distance" between Washington and Moscow, but she rejected suggestions there had been a return to the frosty relationships of the cold war era.
Dr Rice urged Russia to strengthen the independence of its institutions, such as the judiciary and the media.
- (Reuters)
Azerbaijan to build up forces
BAKU- Azerbaijan will increase its defence spending by nearly one-third next year to build up its strength in a long-running territorial dispute with its Caucasus neighbour Armenia, President Ilham Aliyev said yesterday.
He told a government meeting that the military budget will grow by $300 million to $1.3 billion in 2008.
- (Reuters)
Burma to allow rights visit
UNITED NATIONS- Burma has agreed to a visit by the United Nations expert on human rights there, who has not been allowed into the country for four years, UN spokeswoman Michele Montas said yesterday.
Crayfish on the run
BERLIN- German police had to round up a cluster of crayfish after the crustaceans broke out of an Asian food shop and scuttled down the street, police in Stuttgart said yesterday.
A surprised pedestrian notified authorities after seeing the crayfish crawling down the road early on Sunday, a local police spokeswoman said.
They had escaped by squeezing through gaps in the grating on their tanks and leaving by the store's front door, which had been left ajar.