A round-up of today's other stories in brief.
US will not relent in Iraq, says Cheney
MISSOURI - US vice- president Dick Cheney has said the United States will not relent in the war in Iraq and will hunt down insurgents "one at a time if necessary".
Addressing an audience of combat veterans, Mr Cheney yesterday described victory in Iraq as "critical to the future security of the US" and said Washington should not lose its resolve to defeat the militants.
"They believe that America will lose its nerve and let down its guard. They are sorely mistaken," he said at the 73rd national convention of the Military Order of the Purple Heart, held in Springfield.
Mr Cheney's speech represented the first high- profile White House response to gathering anti- war demonstrations galvanised by Cindy Sheehan, whose soldier son was killed in Iraq.
Ms Sheehan has set up a camp near President Bush's ranch in Texas. - (Reuters)
Burma loses Aids funding
BANGKOK - The Global Fund to fight Aids, tuberculosis and malaria has ceased its funding for programmes in Burma, blaming travel and other restrictions imposed by the military junta.
The fund, which agreed in August 2004 to spend almost $100 million over five years fighting all three diseases in Burma, said its decision was "regrettable" given the epidemics threatening the country.
Ruled by the military since 1962 and receiving little western aid after decades of sanctions, Burma has up to 610,000 people living with HIV/Aids and one of the highest rates of TB in the world. - (Reuters)
King's widow suffers stroke
ATLANTA - Coretta Scott King, the widow of slain US civil rights leader Martin Luther King jnr, was partially paralysed after suffering a stroke this week and may not fully recover, her doctor said yesterday.
Mrs King (78) was taken to hospital on Tuesday after suffering a severe stroke that paralysed part of her right side and affected her speech. - (Reuters)
Boy of 12 faces rape charges
WIGAN - A 12-year-old boy appeared in court yesterday charged with the rape of an eight-year-old boy. The youngster, who cannot be named for legal reasons, appeared before Wigan Youth Court charged with a catalogue of sex offences.
The boy, from Worsley Mesnes, Wigan, Greater Manchester, is charged with two counts of rape, seven of sexual assault and three of engaging a child in sexual activity.The boy was remanded and will return to court on Tuesday. - (PA)
Driver jailed over drunken rampage
MAIDSTONE - A builder who left a €20,000 trail of "destruction and carnage" after losing his temper and going on a drunken rampage at the wheel of a 40-tonne dumper truck was jailed for 18 months yesterday.
Christopher Mills (29), who feared he was about to lose his job working on a new bypass, drank a bottle of whiskey and smashed his way around a housing estate in East Malling, Kent, on June 13th. - (PA)
Woman charged with maid abuse
SINGAPORE - A 28-year-old Singapore woman faces 80 separate charges of abusing her Indonesian maid including punching, kicking and threatening to kill her, the Straits Times said yesterday.
The newspaper said it was the highest number of maid abuse offences filed against an individual in Singapore, where cases of abuse of foreign domestic workers, are common. If convicted on assault charges, the woman could go to prison for 18 months or pay a fine of 1000 Singapore dollars (€492), or both. For making death threats, she could be jailed for up to seven years, or fined, or both. - (Reuters)