A round-up of today's other news in brief.
Israel bombs tunnel in Gaza
GAZA – Israeli aircraft bombed a tunnel under the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt yesterday, killing three Palestinians inside, medical workers said.An Israeli military spokeswoman said planes attacked the tunnel after Gaza militants fired rockets into southern Israel on Monday, slightly wounding one soldier.
Palestinian medical workers said three workers in the tunnel, part of a system used mostly to smuggle goods and weapons into the Gaza Strip, were killed and six wounded when the tunnel collapsed in the attack. – (Reuters)
Slowdown in Iran's nucleur programme
VIENNA – Iran has not expanded the number of centrifuges enriching uranium at its Natanz nuclear site since the end of May, after increasing capacity steadily over the previous three years, Vienna diplomats said yesterday.
The reason for the slowdown was unclear.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said in its last report on Iran that just under 5,000 centrifuges were refining uranium at its underground Natanz enrichment plant as of May 31st.
The IAEA’s next report is due to come out later this week. – (Reuters)
Italy condemned over G8 death
STRASBOURG – The European Court of Human Rights has condemned Italy for failing to carry out a thorough investigation into the death of a protester who was shot by police at a G8 summit in Genoa in 2001.
The court awarded €40,000 compensation to the protester’s family, but it decided unanimously that the police officer had not used disproportionate force when he fired during an attack by demonstrators on his vehicle.
As well as the death of Carlo Giuliani, more than 231 protesters, many visiting from other countries, were injured and over 280 arrested. – (Reuters)
Inquiry into CIA prison claims
BRUSSELS – Lithuania will investigate allegations that the former Soviet country hosted a secret CIA prison for al-Qaeda suspects, its president said yesterday.
ABC News reported last week that Lithuania was the third European country after Poland and Romania to have provided the CIA with facilities for detaining and possibly interrogating terror suspects.
The US television station quoted unnamed former CIA officials as saying the Baltic country provided a building on the outskirts of the capital.
Up to eight suspects were held there for more than a year, until late 2005. – (Reuters)