PHILIPPINES president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo yesterday signed a law abolishing the death penalty, a day before her trip to the Vatican.

Congress approved a bill abolishing capital punishment two weeks ago despite protests from anti-crime activists, who believe Arroyo . . . a staunch Roman Catholic . . . rushed its approval to please the pope.

Abolished in 1987, the death penalty was restored six years later for murder, child rape and kidnapping convictions.

Brown accused of selling his soul

THE leader of the separatist Scottish National Party (SNP), Alex Salmond, yesterday accused Gordon Brown of "selling his Scottish soul" in his determination to become the next British prime minister.

Salmond made the charge at the SNP's annual Bannockburn rally where he called for Scots to speak out against a new generation of nuclear weapons.

The UK chancellor angered anti-nuclear campaigners by saying he wants to keep an independent nuclear deterrent "for the long term". Downing Street has promised a white paper and a "proper debate".

But Salmond said yesterday: "If the London government is so keen to develop and extend Britain's nuclear capability, let them base their missiles on the Thames [rather than Scotland's Clyde].

"Every week we see more evidence of Gordon Brown selling his Scottish soul for the sake of the top job in London. He has become Dr Strangebrown, with his nuclear obsession."

Thousands opt for civil partnership

MORE than 6,500 British gay and lesbian couples tied the knot within four months of the first civil partnerships in the UK, figures show.

Men formed nearly double the number of same-sex legal unions as women, according to the general register office.

Westminster is the most popular registration authority for civil partnership ceremonies in England and Wales, with 238.

15 stranded as rollercoaster stalls

TWO people were injured when a rollercoaster stopped in the middle of its ride, leaving 15 people stranded for two hours.

The 70mph Volcano: The Blast Coaster got stuck at Paramount's Kings Dominion park in Doswell, Virginia.

A 24-year-old man from Utah received a cut above his eye, and a 12year-old boy from North Carolina complained of a sore leg. Both were taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.