World


Russian general admits ‘serious shortfalls’ in Georgia war
MOSCOW — Russia’s military suffered “serious shortfalls” in its August conflict with Georgia, a top general said yesterday, promising to fix the problems as part of a broad reform of the armed forces. “We had serious shortfalls in this conflict. We have identified them and they will be addressed soon,”....

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Cruise ship passengers disembark in Yemen on piracy fears
SANA'A, YEMEN  — A German cruise ship evacuated 370 passengers and crew members in a Yemeni port yesterday before it headed to the pirate-infested Gulf of Aden on its way to Oman, port sources said. The passengers disembarked from the MS Columbus at the Red Sea port of Houdieda to bypass the Gulf of Aden by air to Dubai, the sources said.

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Number of hungry rises to 963 million
ROME — The number of hungry people has swelled by some 40 million across the globe to stand at 963 million because of spiralling food prices, WAM reported yesterday quoting the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The ongoing financial and economic crisis could push more people into hunger and poverty, the UN agency said in its latest report.

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Ghana election goes to runoff
NAIROBI/ACCRA — Ghana’s presidential election, hailed as a model for African democracy, will go to a runoff in late December after the ruling party’s candidate narrowly failed to reach the 50 per cent mark, election officials announced. Kwadwo Afari Gyan, chairman of the election commission, said a runoff vote would be held on December 28,....

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Nearly 40 per cent in US use alternative medicine
WASHINGTON — Nearly 40 per cent of adults and 12 per cent of children in the United States use complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), according to an annual, nationwide government survey published yesterday. The 2007 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) for the first time included children aged 17 and under who used non-conventional....

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Mugabe under fire over abductions, cholera toll soars
HARARE — The death toll from Zimbabwe’s cholera epidemic soared to nearly 750, the United Nations said yesterday as rights groups denounced President Robert Mugabe over a wave of abductions of activists. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the Open Society Institute blasted the “unprecedented spate of abductions of human rights defenders”....

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