Other world news in brief
Sri Lanka war report accuses army and LTTE
A devastating report into the final months of Sri Lanka’s brutal civil war claims government forces carried out a politically motivated massacre of surrendering Tamil Tiger fighters.
The inquiry, by the University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna) group, accuses elements of the Sri Lankan army of touching “the most depraved depths of humanity”.
But it also accuses the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) of torture, murder, and the forced conscription of children, and says the rebel group was probably responsible for most of the thousands of civilian casualties in the final days of the war. – (Guardian service)
Four held on G8 plot charges
ROME – Italian police have arrested four people charged with plotting an attack on July’s heads of state summit of the G8 group of industrialised nations, police sources said yesterday.
At least two of those arrested have links to the communist-inspired Red Brigades, which carried out attacks in Italy in the 1970s and 1980s. – (Reuters)
17 Somalis on piracy charges
MOMBASA – Kenyan prosecutors charged 17 Somali men with piracy yesterday, a day after the US navy handed them over to authorities there.
There are now 111 suspected pirates being held in Kenya, and police say the influx is clogging jails and courts. Local Muslim leaders say Kenya should not be used as a “dumping ground”, and foreign navies should take charge of the people they arrest. – (Reuters)
Man held after body found
LONDON - Police have arrested a man in connection with the murder of a Surrey woman whose body was found dumped in a rubbish bin last week.
The unnamed 33-year-old man was held on suspicion of murdering the woman,who has since been identified as Melanie Wallner, when he landed at Gatwick airport on Wednesday. – (Reuters)