Today's other stories in brief
Tamil Tigers leader killed in air raid
KILINOCHCHI - The public face of the Tamil Tigers, one of the world's most deadly rebel militias, was killed yesterday in a Sri Lankan air raid - prompting analysts to warn of a dangerous "spiral into full-scale war" on the Indian Ocean island.
S P Thamilselvan, the head of the Tigers' political wing, was one of six top commanders killed in a
precision air strike on a safe house on the edge of the rebels' self-declared capital of Kilinochchi. Softly spoken but forceful, the 43-year-old had pledged to cripple the island's $26bn economy. - (Reuters)
Adopt detainees flown to capital
N'DJAMENA - A group of 16 Europeans detained in eastern Chad for trying to
take 103 children out of the African country illegally were flown under tight security to the capital
N'Djamena yesterday to face trial. The nine French and seven Spanish nationals flew aboard a Chadian military transport plane
from Abeche, where they were arrested last week. - (Reuters)
Saudis execute Egyptian 'sorcerer'
RIYADH- Saudi Arabia executed an Egyptian man convicted of "sorcery", desecrating the Muslim holy book and adultery, the official news agency
said. The Saudi Press Agency said Mustafa Ibrahim was put to death in Riyadh. - (Reuters)
Abbas meets with Hamas officials
RAMALLAH - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met Hamas officials yesterday for the first time since the Islamist group seized Gaza in June, but ruled out formal reconciliation talks until Hamas cedes the territory.
Abbas said he met Hamas lawmaker Hussein Abu Kwaik and a Hamas-backed former government minister, Naser el-Deen al-Shaer, informally at his presidential compound in Ramallah. - (Reuters)
Japanese leader reaches out
TOKYO - Japanese prime minister Yasuo Fukuda yesterday sounded out main opposition Democratic Party leader Ichiro Ozawa about forming a new government coalition to break a deadlock in parliament.
Fukuda made the proposal at a meeting between the two political leaders, their second this week, to discuss a stalement in parliament since opposition parties won control of the upper house in an election in July, allowing them to stall legislation.
- (Reuters)
UN troops sent home over abuse
UNITED NATIONS - More than 100 Sri Lankan peacekeepers have been accused of sexual exploitation and abuse in Haiti and will be sent home on Saturday, the United Nations said, in the latest sexual abuse scandal involving peacekeeping missions. 108 of Sri Lanka's 950 soldiers in Haiti were being sent home on disciplinary grounds. - (Reuters)