■ Gaza Strip
Abbas tries to calm factions
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas traveled to Ramallah on the West Bank on Monday to try to end infighting between Palestinian factions and to work with the Hamas-led Cabinet to form a national unity government. Abbas adviser Nimr Hamad said the president would also try to persuade Hamas and other militant factions to stop firing rockets at Israel from Gaza and to release Corporal Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier that Hamas-backed militants captured on June 25, sparking a widescale Israeli offensive in Gaza. Abbas hoped to bring about an end to Israel's offensive in Gaza, Hamad said.
■ United Kingdom
Groping prince exposed
The drunken frolics of princes Harry and William at a party in a London nightclub, on display in photographs published by the Sun tabloid yesterday, have created a sensation. The front-page photograph shows Prince Harry, 21, grabbing the breasts of a voluptuous blonde. The exclusive picture showed Harry and his former girlfriend Natalie Pinkham, 28, at a party in London's trendy Boujis nightclub, the tabloid said. The South African girlfriend of the prince, Chelsy Davy, 21, was said to be very disappointed at his behavior.
■ Canada
Pot pitched at AIDS expo
The light scent of marijuana wafted among exhibits at the 16th International AIDS Conference in Toronto on Monday, as activists took advantage of Canada's comparatively pot-friendly policies to make a pitch for the herb as a painkiller. "This is the first time that an exhibit of this kind has been at the AIDS conference," said Hilary Black, spokeswoman for the Medical Marijuana Information Resource Center, which along with the Canadian AIDS Society sponsored the display. Researchers say marijuana can ease some types of severe and chronic pain as well as symptoms like nausea better and with fewer side effects than many prescription remedies.
■ Canada
Marriage banishes blues
Getting married enhances mental health, especially if you're depressed, according to a new US study. The benefits of marriage for the depressed are particularly dramatic, a finding that surprised the professor-student team behind the study. "We actually found the opposite of what we expected," said Adrianne Frech, a doctoral candidate at Ohio State University who conducted the study with Kristi Williams, an assistant professor of sociology. "Just mattering to someone else can help alleviate symptoms of depression," Frech said.
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