London - A company for ecological design in Britain has produced an edible Christmas card made from potato starch paper and featuring a picture of Brussels sprouts, it was reported Wednesday.

The design was part of an effort to reduce the environmental impact of the festive season, said Steve Lodge, managing director of green graphic design agency Oxygen Creative.

Baghdad - Montazer al-Zaidi, the TV reporter who threw his shoes at US President George W Bush, was not present in court when his trial opened Wednesday, al-Zaidi's brother said Wednesday.

Cited by Iraq's INA news agency, Durgham al-Zaidi said the defendant's three brothers and three lawyers were in attendance at the trial that is taking place in the fortified Green Zone in Baghdad.

In court, the officiating judge said he met with Montazer al-Zaidi privately and that he was "cooperative."

Bratislava - Czech energy firm CEZ is to build a new nuclear power plant in Slovakia to help offset a closure of its two Soviet-era reactors, an official said Wednesday.

The Slovak leftist government of Prime Minister Robert Fico selected CEZ as its strategic partner for building a new unit in the Jaslovske Bohunice nuclear energy complex, Slovak Economy Minister Lubomir Jahnatek said.

Slovakia vowed to shut down two Soviet-era units in Jaslovske Bohunice by 2009 as part of its accession deal with the European Union, which the country of 5.3 million entered in 2004.

Amsterdam - The European parliament on Wednesday refused to allow the screening of an anti-Isla

Dhaka- The Dutch government will provide Bangladesh with 30 million euros (42.1 million dollars) to promote public education in the South Asian country where illiteracy is still high, the Netherlands embassy in Dhaka said Wednesday.

The money will be spent for non-formal education under a project called Janashilon (Popular Education) in partnership with Friends in Villages Development in Bangladesh (FIVDB), a non-governmental organisation working in the education sector, under a five-year agreement.

Passau, Germany - German police Wednesday quizzed a married couple in connection with the stabbing of a police chief who has been vilified by neo-Nazis.

Alois Mannichl, 52, chief of police in the southern German city of Passau, survived the Saturday attack outside his home by a shaven- headed man who yelled neo-Nazi abuse at him, then left with a getaway driver.