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R/£ World briefs - November 03, 2009
November 03, 2009 Edition 1
No takers for Monroe crypt
LOS ANGELES: A second attempt to sell a crypt on top of Marilyn Monroe's final resting place has failed, with not a single bid received for the burial spot in a celebrity-filled Los Angeles cemetery.
Widow Elsie Poncher is trying to sell her husband's crypt to pay off the mortgage on her Beverly Hills home. Poncher had planned to move her husband to an adjacent crypt intended for her.
Joining the Gibson clan
SYDNEY: Actor Mel Gibson and his Russian girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva are celebrating the birth of a daughter, according to media reports.
Gibson, 53, announced in May that his girlfriend was pregnant. Celebrity website RadarOnline.com said 39-year-old Grigorieva gave birth on Friday, a few weeks early. Gibson already has seven children from his first wife Robyn, who has filed for divorce.
Valuable vases
LONDON: A visitor looks at a pair of Qing Dynasty, Qianlong period, Famille Rose soldier vases and covers on display at an auction house in London yesterday. The vases are to be auctioned in a sale tomorrow with an estimated price of between £80 000 (about R1 million) and £120 000.
Leaders tackle Zim crisis
HARARE: Three southern African leaders will meet on Thursday to tackle a crisis threatening Zimbabwe's unity government, a Zimbabwean official said yesterday. Swaziland's King Mswati III, Mozambican President Armando Guebuza and Zambian President Rupiah Banda will hold talks in Mozambique, hoping to help narrow differences between Zimbabwe's leaders.
Probe after rig fire at sea
SYDNEY: A massive fire erupted on an oil rig that has been leaking into the Timor Sea, and Australia's government yesterday promised an investigation, the latest drama in a 10-week saga to plug the hole. Rig operator PTTEP Australasia said no one was injured and non-essential workers were evacuated after the fire broke out on the West Atlas rig and Montara wellhead platform on Sunday.
UN rethink after 60 deaths
KINSHASA: The UN will suspend support for Congolese army units that it believes deliberately killed more than 60 civilians in joint operations this year, UN peacekeeping chief Alain Le Roy said yesterday. The UN has backed President Joseph Kabila's forces in operations against Rwandan rebels, despite complaints from human rights groups and others about abuses by soldiers.
Militants killed in sweep
MAKHACHKALA: A Russian government spokesman in a restive southern province near Chechnya said three suspected militants were killed during a security sweep. The suspects were killed in the town of Khasavyurt in the province of Dagestan, near the border with Chechnya. He said the two men and a woman refused to surrender and were killed in fighting overnight.
Presidential poll off again
ABIDJAN: A long-delayed presidential election in Ivory Coast is being pushed back again. President Laurent Gbagbo has announced that the vote set for November 29 will have to be postponed because more adjustments to the electoral list are needed. The West African country's constitutional court said yesterday that an official election date will be reset in eight days.
Rough ride for journalist
DIMONA, Israel: A Swedish journalist who caused outrage in Israel with allegations that soldiers stole organs of dead Palestinians defended his article to an often hostile audience in southern Israel yesterday. Often interrupted by hecklers, Donald Bostrom admitted he had no proof beyond the allegations of the families of Palestinians killed by the Israeli army.
Summit in the clouds
KATHMANDU: Nepal is to hold a cabinet meeting on Mount Everest to highlight the impact of global warming on the Himalayas ahead of next month's climate change talks in Copenhagen, a minister said yesterday. The entire cabinet will travel to Everest base camp at an altitude of 5 360m for the meeting, to be held later this month, Forests Minister Deepak Bohora said.
Oil depot blaze toll rises
NEW DELHI: The death toll from a huge fire at an oil depot near India's northern city of Jaipur rose to 12 yesterday as the blaze raged for the fourth day, triggering health concerns for residents. The fire at the state-run Indian Oil Corp depot on the outskirts of Jaipur started on Thursday evening and engulfed at least 11 tanks containing 8 million litres of oil.
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