A round-up of today's other world news in brief ...
Suicide bomb attacks kill at least 19 in Iraq
BAGHDAD – Suicide bombers killed at least 19 people in Iraq yesterday in separate attacks in Baghdad and the northern city of Kirkuk, security officials said, underscoring the fragility of Iraq’s security gains.
In the latest attack, a suicide bomber struck at a crowded market in the south Baghdad district of Doura, killing 12 people and wounding 25, police said, adding that three US soldiers were also killed. – (Reuters)
Israelis bulldoze settler cabins
WEST BANK – Israeli police broke up an unauthorised settler outpost in the occupied West Bank yesterday, bulldozing seven makeshift cabins.
About 40 members of Israel’s paramilitary border police force took part in the operation.
There were five settler families at the hilltop camp, called Maoz Esther, living in wooden structures with sheet metal roofs.– (Reuters)
Militants kill five Algerian police
ALGIERS – Islamist militants ambushed and shot dead five Algerian paramilitary gendarmes southwest of the capital Algiers, newspapers reported yesterday.
A sixth was wounded in the Wednesday attack, in which militants detonated a bomb before opening fire on two police vehicles in Medea province, 100km (60 miles) from Algiers, the newspapers Liberte, El Khabar and Echorouk said. – (Reuters)
Female train driver ban challenged
MOSCOW – A young Russian woman will challenge regulations that ban women from driving trains on the metro after the supreme court rejected her legal case yesterday.
Student Anna Klevets applied to work as an assistant driver on the underground system in Russia’s second city, St Petersburg, last November.
But Ms Klevets was turned down on grounds that women cannot work with dangerous heavy equipment, Itar-Tass news agency reported. – (Reuters)
Berlusconi’s ‘showgirl’ remark
ROME – Emma Marcegaglia, the head of Italy’s industrialists, was not thrilled when Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi referred to her yesterday as a “showgirl”.
In his address to the annual industrialists’ meeting, Mr Berlusconi jokingly used the word velina (showgirl) to refer to Ms Marcegaglia.
He said he had a meeting with Ms Marcegaglia on Wednesday to discuss her speech.
“An usher told me a showgirl was there to see me . . . she was in great form, very elegant,” he joked. – (Reuters)
