A round-up of today's other stories in brief.
Maoists blamed for 12 police deaths
RANCHI - At least 12 Indian policemen were killed yesterday when suspected Maoist rebels triggered a landmine in the state of Jharkhand. The attack, in the iron-ore hub of Kiriburu, killed the men as they were heading to defuse a bomb in a school building, a senior police officer said.
The explosion was so powerful that the vehicle in which the men were travelling was blasted several metres from its course, he added.
Indian Maoists, dominant in vast swathes of rural India along its eastern flank, claim to fight for the rights of poor peasants and landless labourers.
Thousands of people have been killed in the revolt which erupted nearly three decades ago. Jharkhand, a state dominated by tribes people, has been one of the hubs of Maoist activity. - (Reuters)
US war veteran sues director
BOSTON - A US war veteran, who lost both arms in Iraq, has sued Oscar- winning director Michael Moore for $85 million, saying television clips were used without his permission in the anti-war documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 and gave a false impression that he opposed the war.
Sgt Peter Damon (33), a supporter of President Bush and the Iraq war, claims Moore misused the footage to portray him "in a false light" and as "disagreeing with the president about the war effort and as disagreeing with the war effort itself". He added: "It was kind of almost like the enemy was using me for propaganda." Moore's film production company was not immediately available for comment. - (Reuters)
Pyongyang invitation rejected
WASHINGTON - The White House has rejected an invitation from North Korea for the chief US envoy to the stalled nuclear talks to visit Pyongyang.
"The United States is not going to engage in bilateral negotiations with the government of North Korea," said White House spokesman Tony Snow; Washington was sticking to its position that any negotiations be conducted through a six-nation format.
North Korea invited the chief envoy, Christopher Hill, to visit Pyongyang to explain if the US had a "true political intention" to implement a joint agreement aimed at persuading the North to give up its nuclear weapons programme. - (Reuters)
Colombian troops linked to massacre
BOGOTA - The Colombian authorities have arrested eight soldiers for murdering 10 anti-narcotics police last month, an incident the government had first described as a "friendly fire" accident.
Investigators say there was evidence that the soldiers charged over the May 22nd massacre were in the pay of right-wing militias out to protect their cocaine smuggling operations. - (Reuters)
Three killed in Kenyan clashes
NAIROBI - Three people were killed yesterday in Nairobi as street traders protesting forceful eviction fought running battles with police in some of the worst clashes in the Kenyan capital in recent months.
Among the dead was a policeman stoned and beaten to death by traders taking revenge for the killing of a colleague, who witnesses and his brother said was shot dead while trying to flee arrest.
One witness said Edwin Ooko (23), a dealer in second-hand clothes, was shot at point blank range by a policeman as he fled. - (Reuters)
Gay pride parade for Warsaw
WARSAW - Warsaw's conservative authorities will allow a gay pride parade in the Polish capital later this month after rejecting similar requests for the last few years, city officials said yesterday. - (Reuters)