Britain and France are c

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   alling for an additional 3,000 United Nations troops in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the U.N. already has its biggest peacekeeping mission, a senior British diplomat said Wednesday. A U.N. peacekeeper rides atop an armored vehicle last week in Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo. Mark Malloch-Brown, the British Foreign Office minister for Africa, the Middle East and the United Nations, announced a draft resolution on the troop increase while on a four-day mission to the war-torn Congo. Britain expects the U.N. Security Council to adopt the resolution by the end of the week, a spokeswoman for the British mission to the United Nations said. Read the full story

A grenade apparently fired into a

gathering of anti-government protesters camped out in the Thai prime minister’s office compound killed one person and wounded 23 others Thursday, officials said. Security for anti-government protesters in Bangkok inspect grenade attack site on Thursday. Read the full story

Russia will send additional ships to the Horn of Africa in an effort to crack down on the recent wave of hijackings by Somalia-based pirates, its navy chief said Thursday.

“After Neustrashimy, Russia will be sending warships from other fleets to this region,” Vysotsky said. No additional details were provided.

A NATO-led international fleet has attempted to crack down on the attacks. An Indian frigate battled a pirate ship in the Gulf of Aden on Tuesday, leaving the ship ablaze and likely sunk, the country’s defense ministry reported.

In September, Vysotsky said Russian ships would be operating on their own. But the crews of the Neustrashimy and the British frigate HMS Cumberland teamed up to chase off pirates who attacked a Danish ship in the gulf earlier this month.

More than 90 ships have been attacked off eastern Africa so far this year, according to the International Maritime Bureau, which monitors piracy. The pirates, who operate from largely lawless Somalia, still hold 17 vessels — including the Saudi-owned supertanker Sirius Star, the largest ship captured to date.

The US Coast Guard has suspended its search for roughly 90 migrants feared dead after their makeshift boat apparently sank in an often-stormy stretch of water between the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. For four days, rescue crews had used helicopters, a cutter and several aircraft to look for a sign of the wooden boat reported missing in the perilous 130-kilometre Mona Passage separating the Dominican Republic from this comparatively wealthy US territory. But Coast Guard Captain Eduardo Pino said the mission was suspended on Wednesday evening after rescuers found no debris or bodies in the white-capped waters where the Atlantic collides with the Caribbean Sea. Earlier reports put the number of passengers at 40, but Coast Guard spokesman Ricardo Castrodad said the estimated number of people on the boat had risen to about 90 since the weekend. The illegal migrants apparently were all Dominicans, but authorities could not rule out that a few Cubans or Haitians might also have been on the boat, known as a “yola”.

Russia and Georgia started talks today to resolve tensions over breakaway regions that led to a war in August, and one senior official predicted negotiations could take years. “I expect a result in many, many years forward if we start today constructively,” said Maksim Grinjia, deputy foreign minister of the Moscow-backed breakaway region of Abkhazia. “It’s a long process. We have to start one day,” he told reporters. A first set of talks, brokered by the European Union and other international bodies, failed to get off the ground last month because of disagreements about whether representatives from South Ossetia and Abkhazia should take part, and how. Since the five-day war ended there have been shootings and explosions along the new de facto border of Georgia and South Ossetia with both blaming each other for stoking conflict. Russian defence minister Anatoly Serdyukov said yesterday that Georgia was trying to build up its military which could spark even greater instability in the region than in August.

Much diplomatic sleight-of-hand has been needed to get all the parties to sit around the same table, and most participants declined to comment as they entered United Nations headquarters in Europe for the meeting. Moscow insists that the governments of Abkhazia and South Ossetia that it backs are present, while Georgia is wary of anything that would amount to international recognition for the breakaway regions and insists that regional representatives still loyal to Tbilisi also take part in the talks. Grinjia said the talks would take place in working groups, rather than a formal plenary session, with officials taking part as representatives and not official delegations. The United States, which sees Georgia as an ally in the volatile Caucasus, is also participating. US President-elect Barack Obama called on Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili on Monday to assure him of Washington’s continued support. Mr Grinjia said the two working groups would discuss security guarantees and refugees. Human rights group Amnesty International estimates that 24,000 ethnic Georgians are unable to return to their homes in South Ossetia and nearby areas, as looting and kidnappings continue along the border. At the conflict’s height around 200,000 people were displaced on all sides, with ethnic Georgians accounting for the biggest group, Amnesty said in a report this week. The various parties met for an informal dinner yesterday. “It was a nice dinner and a good atmosphere,” Grinjia said. But no one expects the talks to have quick results.

A large fire broke out at the military section of Berlin’s Tegel airport on Thursday, prompting authorities to divert flights elsewhere.

Incoming flights were being diverted to Schoenefeld airport in the eastern part of the German capital because large plumes of smoke made landing difficult, a spokesman for Tegel airport said.

Police said the fire, whose cause was not known, posed no immediate danger to life and a large contingent of firemen was fighting it.

Justice Brassington Reynolds yesterday admitted in evidence the challenged dying declaration in the burns murder case at the Berbice Assizes. The Judge held that all the classical ingredients required by the legal authorities for qualifications have been met by the prosecution, and as a result the statement taken by the then Lance Corporal Paul David from Savitree Persaud at the New Amsterdam Public Hospital on July 10,2003 is admissible. Read the full story

Portugal’s Ambassador to Guyana, Jaoa Cateano da Silva and Nigerian High Commissioner Musa John Jen Tuesday presented their credentials to President Bharrat Jagdeo at the Office of the President, New Garden Street. The new Ambassador of Portugal told the Government Information Agency (GINA) that his priority would be to foster business relations with Guyana and his country will soon appoint an Honorary Consul to this country. Read the full story

Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce Manniram Prashad has  welcomed  the decision by bakers to reduce the price of bread and other flour-based products. Minister Prashad during consultation with bakers today at his South Road Office said he cannot give an exact percentage of its reduction as this would be decided among the bakers. His Ministry will continue to work with them to see how this reduction could be passed on to the consuming public. Read the full story

A group of private investors from the Ogle Airport Inc. yesterday met with President Bharrat Jagdeo at his office to discuss the commencement of the second phase of the Ogle Airport development. Read the full story