■ United Nations
Iran to observe IAEA pact
Iran's UN ambassador said on Monday that Tehran would not only sign but observe a key international measure against nuclear proliferation even before its ratification by the Iranian parliament. Tehran had previously agreed in principle to sign the document, as well as to suspend enrichment of nuclear fuel, in what was seen as a major step forward in its standoff with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) over its nuclear ambitions. But it had not previously publicly said it would meet its obligations under the pact even before its ratification.
■ Zimbabwe
Challenge to `rigged' poll
Robert Mugabe's re-election as Zimbabwe's president last year should be nullified because of sweeping poll irregularities, lawyers told the High Court on Monday at the start of a landmark opposition challenge. Morgan Tsvangirai's opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and several Western groups say the poll in March last year, which handed Mugabe a fresh six-year term, was rigged. Tsvangirai and his wife Susan joined opposition legislators and MDC officials who packed the Harare courthouse to hear the case, in which Tsvangirai is represented by five high profile lawyers.
■ United Kingdom
Man jailed in HIV case
In a landmark case, a London court on Monday handed out an eight-year jail sentence to a man with HIV who infected two lovers by having unprotected sex. The prison term given to Kenyan-born Mohammed Dica, 38, followed his conviction three weeks ago, when he became the first person successfully prosecuted in England and Wales for sexually transmitting HIV. Dica wooed his victims -- a divorcee and a mother-of-two, both in their 30s -- by telling one that he had had a vasectomy, and promising the other a lifetime of love.
■ United Kingdom
Horny ram puzzles spooks
The strange signal had British intelligence staff baffled. Perhaps a spy was lurking on England's northeast coast, or was there something more sinister involved? Not wishing to take any risks, Britain's top secret monitoring base carried out an investigation. "Exhaustive tests were launched, revealing the answer -- a horny ram" having fun with a radio mast, the base said in the latest edition of its in-house newspaper. "In between servicing some local ewes, it was partial to rubbing its horns against the aerial masts," it said. The strange signal was regularly picked up by a mast in a field in Scarborough, a popular tourist spot on England's northeast coast.
■ United States
Jessica Lynch to wed
Former US Army Private Jessica Lynch, the rescued Iraq POW who became an American heroine, plans to marry her soldier sweetheart in June. Lynch, 20, and Army Sergeant Ruben Contreras, 24, are planning to tie the knot in Colorado, Contreras' mother Lisa Latorre told reporters. "I'm looking forward to them finally being able to be together and happy. They deserve that chance. They've been through so much," Latorre said. A report on Monday said the couple had met two years ago in a fast-food restaurant near Fort Bliss in Texas. Lynch shot to fame after she was captured by Iraqi forces, then rescued by US troops in a mission critics described as a staged propaganda event.
RSS