In Short

A round-up of today's other stories in brief.

A round-up of today's other stories in brief.

Iraqi woman suicide bomber kills 6

TAL AFAR, Iraq - An Iraqi woman suicide bomber blew herself up outside a US military office in the northern Iraqi town of Tal Afar, killing herself and at least five others and wounding 53.

It was believed to be the first attack by a female suicide bomber since the insurgency began.

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Yesterday also, a bomb exploded outside the house of a bodyguard of Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in the southern city of Najaf, killing at least six people. - (Reuters)

12 are killed in Kabul bombing

KABUL - At least 12 people were killed and 29 wounded when a suicide bomber dressed in an army uniform rammed a motorcycle into a convoy of buses carrying Afghan army officers in Kabul. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack at the Kabul Military Training Centre and said more could be expected. - (Reuters)

Family of Brazilian demand justice

LONDON - The family of a Brazilian man mistakenly shot dead by British police following attacks on the London transport system visited the scene of his death yesterday and demanded justice for their slain son.

Police shot Jean Charles de Menezes (27) seven times in the head on July 22nd as he boarded an underground train at Stockwell station in south London. They were hunting men behind a botched attack the previous day and believed the electrician had a bomb. - (Reuters)

Commando-style raid on strikers

BASTIA - Crack French forces stormed a car ferry in the Mediterranean Sea yesterday to recapture it from about 50 striking workers who had seized the vessel in protest at plans to privatise their ferry company.

In a commando-style raid, five army helicopters circled over the large Pascal-Paoli ferry off the Mediterranean island of Corsica after dawn, troops sliding down ropes to swiftly seize control of the vessel. - (Reuters)

Police call off hunt for rapists

LONDON - British police said they had ended a hunt for a gang of serial rapists and were instead considering taking action against one alleged victim while a second teenage girl was said to have wasted their time.

Detectives in Northampton had said they were investigating three rapes and two other attempted abductions from July 31st to August 8th. - (Reuters)

British beef may return to Europe

BRUSSELS - British beef could be back on supermarket shelves throughout Europe in early 2006, a decade after exports were banned at the height of the BSE outbreak, a European Commission official said. The EU halted exports in 1996 as BSE ravaged British cattle. - (Reuters)

Mighty mouse halts airliner

MANILA - A mouse upset the best-laid plans of an airline and nearly 250 passengers in the Philippines, grounding a plane for 13 hours while engineers tried to smoke out the rodent. The Qatar Airways plane was preparing for take-off earlier this week when it was spotted scampering across an aisle. - (Reuters)