In short

Other world news in brief

70 killed in airliner crash in Kyrgyzstan

BISHKEK - About 70 people died yesterday, when a Kyrgyz airliner crashed outside Bishkek, capital of the tiny former Soviet Central Asian state of Kyrgyzstan, among them members of a local teenage basketball team.

The Boeing 737-200, chartered by an Iranian company and bound for Tehran, crashed soon after take-off, a spokeswoman for Manas airport, 30km (20 miles) from Bishkek, said.

Emergencies minister Kamchibek Tashiyev said 90 people were on board and 25 of them survived. But prime minister Igor Chudinov told reporters after an emergency meeting in Manas that the number of survivors was less. - ( Reuters)

Iraq suicide bomb kills 25

BAGHDAD - A suicide bomber detonated an explosive vest at a dinner banquet in western Baghdad's Sunni Arab Abu Ghraib district yesterday, killing 25 people, police said.

The attack, the biggest in weeks, took place at the home of a local sheikh who was holding the feast to celebrate the release of his son from US detention, police said.

They said women and children were among the dead, as were some men believed to be members of US-backed neighbourhood patrols. Abu Ghraib is a largely Sunni Arab district located between central Baghdad and Fallujah. - (Reuters)

Yushchenko says Nato link vital

KIEV - Ukraine sees joining the Nato alliance as vital to its security, president Viktor Yushchenko said yesterday in a speech bound to antagonise Russia.

Marking 17 years of Ukrainian independence following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Mr Yushchenko said Ukraine must also increase its own defences - a clear reference to Russia's recent incursion into Georgia.

In a message Russian president Dmitry Medvedev called on Ukraine not to spoil their historically close ties. - (Reuters)

London teenager stabbed to death

LONDON - An 18-year-old has been stabbed to death in east London, the 24th teenager to die in a knife or gun attack in the capital this year, police said yesterday.

The victim was attacked near a bus garage in Walthamstow in the early hours of the morning. Police said a 17-year-old and a man in his late teens or early 20s were arrested near the scene. - ( Reuters)

Relative kills 19 at wedding

BUJUMBURA - A man killed 19 people in Burundi when he hurled a grenade into his brothers wedding party in what police said yesterday was a land dispute.

A police spokesman in Gitega province said the suspect was a brother of the groom, but that the groom and his wife survived the attack. Dozens of guests were hurt. - (Reuters)

© 2008 The Irish Times

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times