A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Somali land rows leave at least 10 dead
MOGADISHU- Clashes triggered by land disputes and revenge killings between two rival Somali sub-clans have killed at least 10 people, elders said yesterday.
They said 14 people were wounded in the fighting, which started on Wednesday in Somalia's lower Shabelle region.
Somalis are predominantly livestock herders and deadly gun battles over grazing and water are common among its myriad clans. - (Reuters)
Poll result fails to dull Merkel lustre
BREMEN- Germany's Social Democrats (SPD) won a regional vote in Bremen yesterday, but failed to deliver the strong result needed to reinvigorate the party and dull the lustre of Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Preliminary results gave the SPD 36.9 per cent of the vote in Bremen, the smallest of Germany's 16 states.
They were trailed by Dr Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) at 25.1 per cent, the Greens at 16.5 per cent and the Left Party with 8.7 per cent. - (Reuters)
Troops kill six al-Qaeda rebels
ALGIERS- Algerian troops hunting Islamist rebels killed six members of al-Qaeda's north Africa wing on Saturday in fighting east and west of Algiers, newspapers reported yesterday.
Troops backed by helicopters killed four rebels in the region of Boumerdes town, 50km (30 miles) east of Algiers, and two rebels in the region of Tlemcen, 700km (440 miles) west of the capital, Liberté and Le Soir d'Algérie said. - (Reuters)
Rabbi says killing of Jew was racist
MOSCOW- A Jewish teacher in the Russian city of St Petersburg has been stabbed to death and a leading rabbi said yesterday he suspected the attack was ethnically motivated.
Rabbi Berel Lazar said the teacher had been killed at the door of his apartment on Saturday.
Russia has witnessed a rise in racist attacks in recent years, the result, observers say, of resurgent Russian national pride and the collapse of communist order. - (Reuters)
More illegals land on Spanish soil
MADRID- Two boats of Africans landed on Spain's Canary Islands yesterday, taking to 430 the number of illegal immigrants who have reached Spanish soil since Thursday.
One boat with 77 passengers made it to the island of Hierro and 70 more were towed ashore on Gran Canaria. - (Reuters)