Today's other news in brief
US bomber crashes at Qatar base
WASHINGTON - A US B-1 bomber crashed at an air base in Qatar yesterday, a US defence official said, adding the cause was still unknown.
"A B-1 crashed. We're investigating," the official said. Qatar-based al-Jazeera television earlier said the aircraft was a B-52. The US official said it was a B-1.
The B-1 is a long-range bomber aircraft capable of flying intercontinental missions without refuelling and is able to penetrate sophisticated defensive networks. - (Reuters)
More US troops for Afghanistan
WASHINGTON - US president George W Bush yesterday promised to send more troops to Afghanistan after his departure from the White House next year, whatever the status of troop withdrawals from Iraq.
The pledge, delivered at a Nato summit in Bucharest, would add a "significant" number of troops in Afghanistan in 2009, the Pentagon chief, Robert Gates, told reporters.
Mr Gates said he expected the next president - Democrat or Republican - to honour the commitment. "I think that no matter who is elected they will want to be successful in Afghanistan." - (Guardian service)
Hungary leader expects split
BUDAPEST - Hungarian prime minister Ferenc Gyurcsany said he expected his coalition government to break up and the Socialists to govern in a minority, but pledged to press ahead with cuts in the budget deficit.
"I give the highest probability today to the Socialists ruling in an open, one-party government," Mr Gyurcsany said.
The Socialists' coalition partner, the Free Democrats, announced this week that they would leave the coalition because of disagreements over crucial structural reforms. - (Reuters)
Pirates capture luxury yacht
PARIS - Pirates have taken over a French luxury yacht with 30 crew on board off the coast of Somalia, the boat's owner said yesterday.
Luxury sailboat the Ponant was heading from the Seychelles to the Mediterranean Sea when pirates stormed it in the Gulf of Aden, which lies between Somalia and Yemen, said a spokesman for the boat's owner, the Compagnie des Iles du Ponant.
There were no customers on board, a spokesman for the tour company said. - (Reuters)
Prince Philip ill but still working
LONDON - Prince Philip has been taken to hospital with a chest infection, Buckingham Palace said yesterday .
The prince (86), who the palace said was working from his hospital bed, has been an energetic figure in the House of Windsor for more than six decades. - (Reuters)
Women remain victims of laws
Almost every country worldwide retains laws discriminating against women - in areas including property and nationality - despite years of pledges to revoke them, the author of a UN-commissioned study said yesterday.
Fareda Banda, a law professor at the University of London, said at least 53 countries still do not outlaw rape within marriage and women own only 1 per cent of the world's titled land. - (Reuters)
Spanish region to import water
MADRID - Spain's northeast Catalonia region will need to import water by ship and train from May to ensure supplies if the current drought persists, the regional government said. Rainfall in all but one of Catalonia's 15 river basins was below emergency levels. - (Reuters)