A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Clooney attack on Democrats over Iraq
NEW YORK - Oscar-winner George Clooney has lashed out at Democrats who voted for the war in Iraq and then claimed they had been "misled" by President George Bush.
The actor accused the politicians of "caving in" purely because they were scared of being branded unpatriotic, and said their actions "drove him crazy". In a mini-essay on blog site Huffingtonpost.com, Clooney declared himself proud to be a liberal and bemoaned the fact that it seemed to have become a "dirty word". - (Reuters)
Arrests at Belarus opposition rally
MINSK - Police in Belarus detained about 20 people at a rally addressed by the main opposition candidate challenging President Alexander Lukashenko's bid for re-election.
Mr Lukashenko is accused in the West of crushing opposition in his country of 10 million people, lying between Russia and Poland. - (Reuters)
Romania's 'huge progress' praised'
BUCHAREST - EU justice commissioner Franco Frattini has praised Romania's "huge progress " in reforming its justice system and fighting corruption, the main hurdles to its European Union entry planned for 2007. Bucharest is under increasing scrutiny as Brussels prepares an accession report due on May 16th. - (Reuters)
'No extradition request' for Taylor
MONROVIA - Liberia's government has denied it had asked Nigeria to extradite former Liberian President Charles Taylor, wanted for war crimes by an international court.
"There was no letter on the extradition of Mr Taylor," Liberian information minister Johnny McClain said in response to an earlier statement by a Taylor aide who said Nigeria had received a written extradition request. - (Reuters)
Maoist rebels in India seize train
RANCHI - Hundreds of Maoist rebels seized a passenger train in eastern India yesterday with about 200 people on board. A Maoist rebel on the train pulled the emergency cord, forcing the train to stop in a densely forested area in Latehar district, 160km (100 miles) west of Ranchi, the state capital of Jharkhand. - (Reuters)
General strike in Greece called
ATHENS - Greek union leaders have vowed to shut down the whole country tomorrow through a 24- hour general strike called to show their opposition to government economic reforms which, they say, penalise workers unfairly.
The strike will hit government offices, public utilities, banks, hospitals, ports and schools. Transport will be disrupted nationwide, public transport in Athens will come to a halt and national carrier Olympic Airlines will ground dozens of flights. - (Reuters)
France to lift curbs on migrants
PARIS - France said yesterday it would gradually lift restrictions on workers from eight new EU countries with priority to those sectors where labour was in short supply.
France has to take a decision by May 1st about how much to open up its market to labour from the new states.- (Reuters)
New poll shows low Bush rating
WASHINGTON - A CNN/ USA Today/Gallup poll released yesterday puts President George W. Bush's approval rating at 36 per cent, a new low for that poll but similar to his rating in other recent surveys.
The poll, taken on Friday and Saturday, showed Mr Bush's approval rating fell from 38 per cent in late February-early March, while his disapproval rating remained steady at 60 per cent. - (Reuters)