More INT'l NEWS in brief

New Mandela stamp being issued

JOHANNESBURG (AP):When Nelson Mandela won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993, South Africa's post office issued a stamp with his image. It released another when Mandela was inaugurated as South Africa's first black president in the following year. Then one more when the former president turned 90 in 2008.

The postal service issued a fourth commemorative stamp with a portrait of Mandela yesterday, the 24th anniversary of his release from prison during white minority rule. He died December 5 at the age of 95.

The South African post office plans to sell five million copies of the silver stamp, which costs about $4.50 and comes in a folder with information about the anti-apartheid leader who spent 27 years in prison and was released on February 11, 1990.

About 20 cents from every stamp sale will go to a literacy campaign run by a foundation named after Mandela, said Johan Kruger, a post office spokesman.

Afghan capital sees first polio case since 2001 fall of Taliban

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP):A young girl from Kabul has been diagnosed with polio, the first case linked to Afghanistan's capital since the fall of the Taliban in 2001, according to officials.

Afghanistan's Public Health Ministry said that a vaccination campaign had been launched - with particular focus on the area of eastern Kabul where three-year-old Sakina lived - in response to the diagnosis.

Dr Kaneshka Baktash, spokesman for the ministry, said Sakina is partially paralysed. Baktash said she was diagnosed in Pakistan, where Sakina was brought after falling ill.

Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria are the only countries in the world where polio remains endemic, though cases have declined significantly in Afghanistan in recent years.

Still, the vast majority of cases in Afghanistan can be traced back to Pakistan, health officials say.

Nepal's PM sworn in, as coalition partner quits

KATMANDU, Nepal (AP):Nepal's newly elected prime minister was sworn into office on Tuesday, but his party's main coalition partner announced it will not join the government, bringing renewed political uncertainty to the nation.

Sushil Koirala, the leader of Nepal's largest and oldest political party, Nepali Congress, was sworn in by President Ram Baran Yadav.

Koirala was expected to announce a portion of his Cabinet but appointed just one minister, senior party member Ram Sharan Mahat.

Nepali Congress's main coalition partner, the Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist Leninist), said it would not join the government because Koirala had failed to honour an agreement to give it the powerful home minister portfolio.

Both parties want to lead the Home Ministry, which controls the police force and local administrations across the nation.

"We will not join the government until they honour the agreement, and have decided to boycott the swearing-in ceremony," Bishnu Poudel of the coalition party told reporters.

Britain High Court rules for widow of poisoned Russian agent

LONDON (AP):Britain's High Court has backed a bid by the widow of a former Russian agent to force a public inquiry into his death from radioactive poisoning.

Three High Court judges say Home Secretary Theresa May must reconsider her decision to await the outcome of an inquest before deciding whether to hold an inquiry into the death of Russian agent-turned-Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko.

He died in London in 2006 after drinking tea laced with polonium-210.

A coroner's inquest - the normal method of examining an unexplained death - has been barred from considering secret evidence about the possible role of the Russian state.

The judges said Tuesday that the British government had not given "a rational basis" for rejecting a public inquiry. The government has until Friday to seek an appeal.