A round-up of today's other world news in brief
EU set to seal pact with Iraq to secure oil
BRUSSELS – The European Union and Iraq expect to clinch a broad trade and political pact by the end of the year that will forge deeper energy ties between the two, sources said after negotiations yesterday.
The EU wants to wean itself off its dependence on Russian oil and gas, and sees Iraq as a long-term alternative energy supplier.
“The agreement will be concluded by the end of the year,” an Iraq source said, after the latest round of talks in Brussels on the so-called Partnership and Co-operation Agreement. – (Reuters)
Jail for man over racist banner
ANKARA – A Turkish court has sentenced a man to five months in prison for “insulting a section of society” after he put up a banner saying Jews and Armenians were not allowed to enter his business.
The ruling, which followed a complaint by a local human rights group, marks a change of public attitude towards minorities in Turkey.
Human rights groups and the EU have long accused Turkey of discrimination against its minorities. – (Reuters)
Bosnian leader Brankovic resigns
SARAJEVO – The prime minister of Bosnia’s Muslim- Croat federation tendered his resignation on yesterday, a move that could delay the Balkan countrys €1.2 billion IMF stand-by loan.
Prime minister Nedzad Brankovic, who was last month indicted on corruption- related charges, led a Muslim-Croat federation team for three recent weeks of negotiations with the IMF. – (Reuters)
Body in freezer for up to two decades
LONDON – An elderly woman has been questioned by police after allegedly keeping her mother’s body in a freezer for up to two decades, it emerged yesterday.
Police found the body wrapped in a black bin liner in a chest freezer in London.
Officers interviewed Daulat Irani (83) under caution after the body was discovered and identified as that of her mother Gulbai Freedoon Murzan, who was born in 1901. Police believe she may have been dead for up to 20 years. – ( Guardianservice)
Pet owners in fear of cat killer
MIAMI – Police are searching for a person who has mutilated more than 20 cats in two of Miami’s southern suburbs in the past month.
Frightened pet owners in Cutler Bay and Palmetto Bay have been told to take their own cats indoors and to round up neighbourhood strays at night, which is when the killer strikes. – (Reuters)
Hepburn stamp sells at auction
BERLIN – A rare German stamp depicting Audrey Hepburn with a cigarette holder, an image from the 1961 movie Breakfast at Tiffany’s, has been sold for €53,500 by a Berlin auction house.
Germany had planned to issue 14 million copies of the stamp in 2001. Instead, it had to destroy them because the family of the Hollywood actress did not approve of her image being used. – (Reuters)
Building workers on ‘blacklist’
Thousands of British construction workers were denied employment because of a secret “blacklist”, a court heard yesterday.
Ian Kerr built up a database of 3,213 people which included highly sensitive and personal information as well as trade union links and employment history, Cheshire magistrates were told.
Kerr’s organisation, the Consulting Association, was raided by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) last March and he was charged with a breach of the Data Protection Act. – (PA)