More world news in brief.
Taliban leader surrenders, second is killed
KABUL -A senior Taliban commander in southern Afghanistan surrendered to Pakistani authorities and British forces killed another leader, dealing a "shattering blow" to the militant group's leadership, the British army said yesterday.
Mullah Rahim, the top commander for southern Helmand province, gave himself up after British forces had killed two other Taliban leaders in little over three weeks. Hours after his surrender, another senior Taliban commander, Abdul Rasaq was killed in a British missile strike north of Tusa Qala in Helmand on Monday morning, the army said. - (Reuters)
Oil arrests could halt smuggling
LAGOS -The arrest in Nigeria of 14 Filipinos suspected of stealing more than a thousand barrels of crude oil could help crack a multimillion-dollar international smuggling network, a senior army official said yesterday.
The Nigerian navy arrested the men and one Greek a week and a half ago after intercepting a vessel carrying what was believed to be stolen oil in the waters off Brass in the Niger Delta. - (Reuters)
Venezuela and Russia sign deals
MEIENDORF CASTLE, Russia -Russian president Dmitry Medvedev yesterday hailed closer relations with Venezuela's socialist leader Hugo Chávez, signing a series of business deals bringing the two key oil producers and rivals of the US closer.
Arriving in Moscow earlier, Mr Chávez pledged to pursue fresh arms purchases to "guarantee the sovereignty of Venezuela which is being threatened by the United States", but gave no details.
Mr Medvedev and Mr Chavez signed four deals between Russian oil companies and Venezuela's state energy firm. - (Reuters)
TB rife among immigrants to US
CHICAGO -Thousands of immigrants arrive in the US sick with tuberculosis or at risk of the disease, which points to the need to improve efforts to find them, researchers said yesterday.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta found the highest rates of TB among immigrants and refugees born in sub-Saharan African countries including Somalia and Ethiopia, and from parts of southeast Asia and Latin America. - (Reuters)
Bale held over attack claims
LONDON - Christian Bale, star of new Batman film The Dark Knight, was arrested yesterday over allegations he attacked his mother and sister before appearing at the launch of the film. Bale (34) is alleged to have lashed out at his mother Jenny (61) and sister Sharon (40) in his suite at London's Dorchester Hotel last Sunday. - (Guardian service)
'Golden Girl' actor dies at 84
LOS ANGELES -Emmy-winning actress Estelle Getty, best known as a wise- cracking octogenarian on the popular 1980s and '90s sitcom The Golden Girls, died on Tuesday. She was 84.
Getty, who spent 40 years in show business before winning fame as Bea Arthur's 80-year-old mother on the hit show, had been suffering from dementia. - (Reuters)