A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Slovak deputies say No to loan for Greece
BRATISLAVA– Slovakia's parliament torpedoed a bilateral loan to debt-laden Greece yesterday and the European Commission reprimanded the euro zone's poorest member state for breaching solidarity principles.
Slovakia’s politicians have questioned the fairness of calling on its taxpayers to aid wealthier countries who failed to control debt, and the new centre-right cabinet has placed conditions on its role in an emergency loan facility.
“I can only regret this breach of solidarity within the euro area and I expect the euro group and the Ecofin Council to return to the matter in their next meeting,” the EU’s economic and monetary affairs commissioner Olli Rehn said.
Slovakia has one of the lowest debt burdens in the EU. – (Reuters)
Insurgents kill eight Iraqi soldiers
BAGHDAD– An insurgent attack killed eight Iraqi soldiers and three other people at a house in northern Diyala province yesterday, police said, in the latest assault on Iraqi security forces as US troops prepare to leave.
The soldiers died when a bomb exploded in the early hours, destroying the house in the town of Sadiya, northeast of Diyala’s capital Baquba, police said.
The bodies of three civilians were found in the wreckage of the home. – (Reuters)
Lockerbie bomber doctor defended
LONDON– Scottish authorities have defended Dr Andrew Fraser, the doctor who said Lockerbie bomber Abdel Basset al-Megrahi had three months to live after US senators asked them to release the Libyan's medical records.
The senators are probing the circumstances surrounding the release in August last year of Megrahi, convicted of the 1988 bombing of an airliner over Lockerbie, Scotland.
Megrahi is still alive a year after Scottish authorities freed him on compassionate grounds. – (Reuters)