A roundup of today's other world stories in brief:
Mbeki not ruling out early elections
JOHANNESBURG- South African president Thabo Mbeki said he does not rule out early parliamentary elections if he loses the race to lead the ruling ANC to the party's deputy president, Jacob Zuma.
"We haven't got there yet. I don't know. It's possible, it's possible, yes indeed," he said in an interview with the Sunday Independent.
The ANC will choose a new leader on December 16th-20th. If Mr Zuma wins, he is almost certain to become South Africa's next president in elections due in 2009.
- (Reuters)
Army chief may lead Lebanon
BEIRUT- Lebanon's anti- Syrian governing coalition has nominated the army chief for president, opening the way for him to fill the vacant post in a step that would ease a political crisis.
The governing coalition had previously opposed the candidacy of Gen Michel Suleiman, the preferred consensus choice of the opposition led by Hizbullah and backed by Syria.
President Emile Lahoud's term ended on November 23rd.
- (Reuters)
Ebola deaths in Uganda rise to 58
KAMPALA- The number of Ugandans infected by a new strain of the deadly Ebola virus has risen to 58, raising fears the death toll of 18 will also increase from the outbreak in a remote area near Democratic Republic of Congo.
- (Reuters)
'HK's conscience' wins council seat
HONG KONG- Anson Chan (67), the former head of Hong Kong's civil service, has won a highly symbolic byelection for a seat in the city's legislature, in a vote that was widely seen as a referendum on democracy.
The victory by the woman dubbed "Hong Kong's conscience" was good news for the city's pro-democracy political camp, which suffered a beating in district council elections last month at the hands of the territory's biggest pro-Beijing party.
- (Reuters)
Napoleon page sells at auction
PARIS- A single manuscript page from a love story written by Napoleon Bonaparte has sold at auction in France for €17,000.
The item up for sale was the first page of the final draft of Napoleon's 1795 short novel Clisson and Eugenie, said the Osenat auction house, based in Fontainebleau outside Paris.
- (AP)
New political party in France
PARIS- French centrists have buried the UDF party that had been their home for almost 30 years, founding a new party christened the Democratic Movement or "MoDem" with a long-term mission to change the face of French politics.
François Bayrou, who came third in May's presidential election, was elected unopposed to lead the new party.
- (Reuters)