■ Switzerland
Wasp fighter burns down flat
A man who tried to fight bothersome wasps with insect spray and a cigarette lighter burned down his apartment and two neighboring flats, Swiss police said. A police spokesman said the man used a whole can of insect spray on a wasp nest underneath an overhanging roof outside his apartment. When he tried to fend off the angry wasps with his lighter, the fumes ignited and set the flats ablaze. No one in the apartment block was hurt, but the blaze caused 500,000 Swiss francs (US$351,400) in damage.
■ United Kingdom
ID cards set for trial run
British Home Secretary David Blunkett is to stage a pilot scheme this autumn to test the introduction of a national identity card despite the lack of strong cabinet backing for the idea. The Home Office confirmed last night that a six-month trial, testing the use of new generation fingerprint and eye-scanning technology, would be completed by April to "assess customer perceptions and reactions" and estimate costs. It is believed that the trial will be carried out in an as yet unnamed small market town with a population of about 10,000. The Home Office insisted the trial was a test for the new "credit card"-style passport which is to be introduced by 2006, but it is thought that ministers have been advised they cannot openly test the national identity card without legislation.
■ Canada
Woman's death questioned
Canada pressed Tehran on Tuesday for information on the arrests of two Iranian security agents charged in the death of an Iranian-Canadian photojournalist, an official said. Photographer Zahra Kazemi, 54, was arrested on June 23 outside Tehran's Evin prison for taking unauthorized photographs. An official report said she had died from a brain hemorrhage on July 10 following a blow to the head while in custody. Iran's state news agency IRNA said on Monday that two security agents had been charged in connection with the "quasi-intentional murder" of Kazemi.
■ Venezuela
President resists referendum
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, dismissing growing international pressure for a referendum on his rule, said on Tuesday a vote was a possibility but not an obligation. The referendum theme dominated a one-day visit to Caracas by Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, whose country heads a six-nation group that has recommended elections to solve a long-running political crisis in oil-rich Venezuela. Chavez repeated an allegation that more than 3 million pro-referendum signatures collected six months ago and presented last week in a huge opposition march were not valid. Venezuela's constitution requires the signatures of at least 20 percent of registered voters to trigger a referendum.
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