A round-up of other world news in brief
Six die in shooting spree in US
WASHINGTON - A drug offender with mental health problems who was recently released from jail has killed six people in a shooting spree, including a policewoman who had helped his family.
Isaac Zamora (28) also injured another officer during a high-speed chase on a freeway in Washington state in the northwest of the US.
Zamora had just served a six-month jail sentence for drug possession and was supposed to be under community supervision.
His mother said she had tried repeatedly to get help for her son, who she described as "desperately mentally ill".
Among Zamora's victims was Skagit County sheriff's deputy Anne Jackson (40) and a motorist who died on Interstate 5 as the suspect fled. - (PA)
Migrants die on Canaries journey
ARGUINEGUIN - Thirteen African migrants were found dead on a fishing boat intercepted by police off Spain's Canary Islands, the Spanish Red Cross said yesterday.
Survivors' accounts differed but the group was at sea between eight and 12 days, a Red Cross official said.
The 13 victims probably died from hypothermia.
Among the 46 survivors were two women and several children. - (Reuters)
Ex-priest faces child sex charges
SYDNEY - A former priest has been charged with 93 child sex offences stemming from an alleged paedophile ring at a Catholic school.
The 65-year-old was arrested and charged with the offences police allege took place from late 1970s to the early 1980s, according to a statement issued by the New South Wales police.
Police suspect dozens of boys may have been abused during alleged hypnotic "prayer" sessions at St Stanislaus College, 75km (45 miles) east of Sydney, according to local media reports. - (Reuters)
US troops kill six Iraqi security men
BAGHDAD - US troops killed six Iraqi security personnel yesterday, Iraqi police said, in what the US military said was a mistake.
Members of the Iraqi police and army, and a neighbourhood patrol group, fired warning shots in the air when a US boat passed
along the Tigris river near their checkpoint close to the town of Tarmiya. US troops returned fire and called in air support. - (Reuters)
Rice set for Gadafy meeting
The US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, is to meet Libyan leader Muammar Gadafy tomorrow in a landmark visit that ends decades of bitter enmity between Tripoli and Washington. - (Reuters)
Riot in Darfur refugee camp
KHARTOUM - One person was killed and six were injured when hundreds of women clashed with police in a Darfur refugee camp in a riot sparked by a reduction in food rations.
Women, armed with sticks, charged at police on Tuesday in west Darfur's Um Shalaya camp, a base for refugees from neighbouring Chad, the UN said. A male refugee who was also in the crowd died after being shot in the chest as police opened fire. - (Reuters)
Elvis auction lot is true to form
An application for a gun permit filled in by Elvis Presley and containing his only authenticated set of fingerprints may fetch as much as £75,000 (€91,000) at an auction in London today.
The form, requesting permission to carry a Colt 38 revolver and a Beretta 7.6 automatic, was submitted in 1970. - (Guardian service)