A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Second 'Time' reporter for CIA testimony
WASHINGTON - A second Time magazine reporter has been asked by special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald to testify in the CIA leak investigation, the magazine discloses in its December 5th issue.
Viveca Novak, who covered the inquiry into the leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame's cover for Time, has been asked to testify under oath about her conversations starting in May 2004 with Robert Luskin, attorney for White House deputy chief of staff Karl Rove, Time said.
Poll says Chirac's influence weak
PARIS - President Jacques Chirac wields little influence on events in France and his impact abroad is limited, according to a poll in a French newspaper yesterday.
France has recently been shaken by three weeks of riots and Mr Chirac was criticised for remaining silent throughout the crisis The survey in Le Parisien showed that 72 per cent of French people consider Mr Chirac's influence at home to be weak. Only a quarter of those polled said it was strong. - (Reuters)
EU offers Iran fresh nuclear talks
BARCELONA - Britain, France and Germany have agreed to exploratory talks with Iran on resuming negotiations over its disputed nuclear programme, which broke down in August, according to the EU's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana.
"A letter has been conveyed to Iran this afternoon . . . from the three countries and myself," he said yesterday at a Euro- Mediterranean summit in Barcelona. "We offered Iran to have conversations, dialogue to see if we have enough common basis to start negotiations." - (Reuters)
Tamil Tigers say they may up ante
COLOMBO - Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels have warned that they will intensify their independence struggle next year if they are not offered a political deal that satisfies their demands for independence.
In a speech released yesterday on the Tigers' website, rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran said they would first wait and see how the new president, Mahinda Rajapakse, a perceived hardliner, would approach the peace process, which stalled soon after the signing of a 2002 ceasefire. - (Reuters)
$408m for new Harry Potter film
LOS ANGELES - The new Harry Potter film has generated an estimated $408 million at the worldwide box office after its second weekend, with North American moviegoers contributing nearly half of that amount.
Distributor Warner Brothers said the top foreign markets for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire include Britain with $51.3 million, Germany with $35.5 million and Mexico with $13.6 million, all after two weekends. - (Reuters)
Lion cub snatched from Gaza zoo
JERUSALEM - Armed robbers have made off with a lion cub and two Arabic- speaking parrots in a recent raid on Gaza's zoo, according to the Palestinian police chief.
Suod al-Shawwa, the zoo's chairman of the board, said four masked gunmen used blankets to try and snatch a pair of lion cubs, but only captured one. - (Reuters)
Swiss vote for GMO farming ban
ZURICH - Switzerland has voted in favour of a five- year ban on the farming of genetically modified plants and animals, putting in place some of the toughest restrictions in Europe.
The move, supported by farmers, ecologists and consumer groups, will force the government to impose a blanket ban on cultivating GMO crops and importing animals whose genes have been modified in the laboratory. - (Reuters)