■ Cuba
Castro and Vietnam pledge
The leaders of Vietnam and Cuba, two of the world's last five communist-run societies, pledged on Tuesday to stick together in their march to build socialism. The secretary-general of Vietnam's Communist Party, Nong Duc Manh, ended a four-day visit to Cuba. "We are two small countries, fighters with experience, and we march forward together as an example," Cuban President Fidel Castro said as he bid Manh farewell at Havana airport. "We will continue together, Vietnamese and Cubans," Manh said. Vietnam and Cuba have been solid allies since Havana backed Hanoi in the Vietnam War.
■ Italy
Berlusconi no `hawker'
He's happy to be a called a man of the people and name his party after a soccer chant but woe betide the person who tries to pull Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi down to street level. Italy's billionaire premier, who markets himself as a self-made man, on Tuesday cut short a stall holder from the Sicilian city of Palermo who called him a "colleague." "We don't do the same job, we are not colleagues. You do a job that is useful to the economy, but I'm no street hawker, my job is to govern the country," Berlusconi said during a live radio chat show, refusing to answer the caller's question.
■ Great Britain
Girl named `Diot Coke'
Naming your child after a popular soft drink could be seen as a little bit faddish but the parents of young Diot Coke might be forgiven -- they gave their baby daughter the name way back in 1379. Researchers at Britain's National Archives believe that the girl, born in West Riding in Yorkshire, was the victim of the corruption of the name Dionisia. One of the diminutives derived from that name on its path to the modern day Denise was Diot. The girl's surname is believed to be a variation on the name Cook.
■ Canada
Used subs a headache
Canada said on Tuesday it was looking at ways to cool down four trouble-plagued submarines it bought from Britain after a report revealed temperatures in one craft hit 65 degrees Celsius on a patrol. The problem in the engine room of the Victoria -- revealed by opposition legislator Bill Casey -- is the latest in a long line of hassles with the second-hand submarines that Canada agreed to buy in 1998 for C$750 million (US$570 million). Casey said temperatures elsewhere in the Victoria were also high, 43 degrees Celsius in the electronic store, and a sweaty 34 degrees Celsius in the commanding officer's cabin.
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