A round-up of other world news in brief
At least 20 people die in Baghdad blast
BAGHDAD – At least 20 people were killed yesterday when a car bomb exploded in a busy street in a mostly Shia area of north Baghdad.
It was the third major attack in the Iraqi capital this month. Recent high-profile blasts have suggested to some observers that Sunni insurgents were trying to mount a comeback as the US prepares to leave Iraqi cities in three months. – (AP)
Pirates take ship with crew of 23
DUBAI – Pirates have captured a Norwegian-owned cargo vessel off the coast of Somalia with a crew of 23 people aboard, a US Navy spokesman said yesterday.
“The cargo is unknown. There are 23 crew members aboard,” Lieut Nathan Christensen, spokesman for the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, said. – (Reuters)
Worst Zambian floods in decades
LUSAKA – Zambia has put the military on high alert to help aid agencies tackle the worst floods in four decades, which have displaced over 20,000 families and submerged crops ahead of the growing season, officials said yesterday.
The air force is on standby to airlift people to safety from waters that are still rising. Namibia, also hit by floods, has declared a state of emergency in affected areas. – (Reuters)
New guidelines on Gurkha rights
LONDON – The Home Office has said it would publish revised guidelines next month on the right of former Gurkha soldiers to retire in Britain after a court ruled that existing policy was unlawful.
Members of the unit, which has fought for Britain since 1815, had returned to the High Court to enforce the ruling, made last September.
They said the government had failed to honour a commitment to complete a review of outstanding settlement cases by the end of December 2008. – (Reuters)
Religious symbol ban approved
SOFIA – Bulgaria’s Socialist-led government yesterday approved a draft bill banning conspicuous religious symbols such as Muslim headscarves or large Christian crosses in schools.
The bill still needs approval from parliament. Bulgaria, where Muslims account for about 12 per cent of the 7.6 million population, while some 80 per cent are Orthodox Christians, had generally not tolerated religious symbols in schools – but did not have an outright ban. – (Reuters)
Billionaire blasts back into space
BAIKONUR – US billionaire Charles Simonyi roared into space aboard a Russian rocket from Kazakhstan yesterday, making history as the first tourist to make the epic journey twice.
The Soyuz craft blasted from Baikonur cosmodrome at 1149 GMT and is to dock with the International Space Station (ISS). – (Reuters)