In Brief

TSUNAMI FEARS – A magnitude 6,4 undersea earthquake struck Indonesia’s Moluccas islands yesterday and there was a possibility of a tsunami, an official at the meteorological agency said.

* ‘DEBATE ME IF YOU DARE’ – Iran’s hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad yesterday challenged the authority of the UN Security Council as Iran faces a deadline to halt its uranium enrichment or face economic and political sanctions. He said no one can prevent his country from having a peaceful nuclear programme and proposed having a televised debate with US President George W Bush on world issues.* DRC DECISIONS – Senior representatives of the two main presidential candidates in the DRC met in Kinshasa yesterday for the first time since clashes between their supporters this month left 23 dead.Delegates decided on creating two sub-commissions: one to look into the clashes, and the other to “define rules of conduct so that the electoral campaign for the second round of the presidential election pass off calmly”.* LEBANON PLEA – UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, visiting devastated south Lebanon yesterday, urged Israel and Hezbollah to move swiftly to settle disputes blocking a permanent ceasefire to be upheld by 15 000 UN peacekeepers.* SECT LEADER NABBED – The fugitive leader of a polygamist Mormon sect who was on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted List has been arrested in Nevada.Warren Steed Jeffs (50), the leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was wanted in Utah and Arizona on suspicion of sexual misconduct for allegedly arranging marriages between underage girls and older men.* CLIMATE STRUGGLE – Climate change risks devastating South Africa’s wine and fruit industries, Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka warned yesterday.She said the fight against climate change should be as intense as the struggle against apartheid.”Because it’s a survival issue,” she told 1 200 delegates at the Global Environment Facility conference.Nampa-Reuters-AP-AFPHe said no one can prevent his country from having a peaceful nuclear programme and proposed having a televised debate with US President George W Bush on world issues.* DRC DECISIONS – Senior representatives of the two main presidential candidates in the DRC met in Kinshasa yesterday for the first time since clashes between their supporters this month left 23 dead.Delegates decided on creating two sub-commissions: one to look into the clashes, and the other to “define rules of conduct so that the electoral campaign for the second round of the presidential election pass off calmly”.* LEBANON PLEA – UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, visiting devastated south Lebanon yesterday, urged Israel and Hezbollah to move swiftly to settle disputes blocking a permanent ceasefire to be upheld by 15 000 UN peacekeepers.* SECT LEADER NABBED – The fugitive leader of a polygamist Mormon sect who was on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted List has been arrested in Nevada.Warren Steed Jeffs (50), the leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was wanted in Utah and Arizona on suspicion of sexual misconduct for allegedly arranging marriages between underage girls and older men.* CLIMATE STRUGGLE – Climate change risks devastating South Africa’s wine and fruit industries, Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka warned yesterday.She said the fight against climate change should be as intense as the struggle against apartheid.”Because it’s a survival issue,” she told 1 200 delegates at the Global Environment Facility conference.Nampa-Reuters-AP-AFP