World Briefs

Thousands of South African mineworkers marched to protest against racism in the mining and construction sectors yesterday, the country's largest mineworkers' union said.

The 320,000-strong National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said members marched to deliver a letter of complaint to the Chamber of Mines about racism and low levels of affirmative action, known as Black Economic Empowerment (BEE), in South Africa.

BEE is designed to include more blacks in the mainstream economy after decades of exclusion under apartheid.

"We are giving the industry at least one year to make sure that they adhere to our demands and at exactly the same time next year, if nothing has happened, we will go on strike action," NUM spokesman Lesiba Seshoka told Reuters.

Dalai Lama to undergo check-up

The Dalai Lama will have a medical check this week, a senior aide said yesterday, calling it a routine follow-up after he was admitted to hospital with abdominal discomfort in August.

The 73-year-old exiled Tibetan spiritual leader has since recovered fully and remains cheerful, but doctors have advised him to cut down on long travels and rest more.

He will travel to New Delhi for a check-up tomorrow.

"His health is fine. He's going down for a follow-up medical check up after the pain he had suffered in August," Tenzin Taklha told Reuters. The Dalai Lama was admitted to a hospital in Mumbai with "abdominal discomfort" in August. He was released a few days later after doctors said there was no cause for concern.

A smiling Dalai Lama left the hospital for Dharamsala, the headquarters of the Tibetan government-in-exile in northern India, where he has spent most of his time resting, discussing the situation in Tibet and teaching.

Kashmir separatists plan to defy ban

Separatists in Indian-ruled Kashmir said they would go ahead with a rally tomorrow after the government banned public gatherings for a month.

The last two months have seen some of the biggest pro-independence protests since a revolt against Indian rule broke out in the region in 1989.

The demonstrations were sparked by a decision to grant land for shelters for Hindu pilgrims travelling to mostly-Muslim Kashmir, one of the world's most militarised zones. About 40 protesters have been killed by government forces and more than 1,000 injured.

The Jammu-Kashmir Co-ordination Committee, a new alliance of Muslim separatists and representatives of businesses and lawyers, plans to address a huge rally tomorrow in Lal Chowk (Red Square) in the heart of Srinagar, Kashmir's summer capital.

The government announced in a statement yesterday that it was banning public meetings of five or more people for one month.

Plan to oust Merkel's CDU

Social Democrats in the German state of Hesse yesterday backed a plan to form a coalition with the Greens with support from a far-left party, paving the way for them to oust Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives in the state.

Delegates at a special party congress in Rotenburg an der Fulda voted overwhelmingly in favour of the plan put forward by the leader of the SPD in the western state, Andrea Ypsilanti.

"A change in policy is not possible without a change in government," Ypsilanti told delegates. Talks on a coalition accord are due to begin on Tuesday.

Polish mark close of Iraq mission

The Polish military marked the end of its five-year partnership with US forces in Iraq yesterday and prepared to withdraw.

US and Polish officials, including Polish Defence Minister Bogdan Klich and US commander in Iraq General Ray Odierno, gathered in Diwaniya, 150 km south of Baghdad, for a ceremony to commemorate the mission's end.

Poland, which supported the US-led military invasion in 2003, has some 900 troops stationed in Iraq, down from a peak of 2,500 in the first years of the war.

Parties have days to form coalition

Ukraine's President Viktor Yushchenko threatened yesterday to call a snap parliamentary election in a few days if a governing coalition is not formed.

Yushchenko made no call however for the coalition of his party and the bloc of Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko to reunite, after the premier said she met all the conditions to restore to the team linked to the 2004 Orange Revolution.

"I would like the talks between parties that are taking place today to conclude within several days otherwise I will dissolve parliament," his press service cited him as telling journalists on a trip out of Kiev.

"That is why, I have scheduled consultations for October 7 - this is the moment after which the president has the legal right to dissolve parliament," he said.

Bomb damages courthouse in Spain

A bomb left in a bag exploded outside a courthouse in northern Spain yesterday, damaging buildings but hurting no one shortly after a warning call claiming to be from Basque rebels ETA, a police spokesman said.

The explosion in the Basque Country town of Tolosa ripped a hole in the courthouse wall and damaged nearby houses, the spokesman for the Basque Country police said. Basque regional official Joseba Azkarraga said the bomb exploded just moments after a security guard who had been in the courthouse left the building.

"The guard just left in the nick of time. It was a miracle he survived," Azkarraga said at the scene of the explosion.

He said the courthouse's security cameras probably "will have a record of what happened."