A round-up of today's other stories in brief
At least 13 die in weekend Iraq violence
BAGHDAD - A spate of roadside bombings in Baghdad and north of the capital has killed a US soldier and at least 11 Iraqis.
An Iraqi police major was also killed yesterday by drive-by gunmen in the insurgent stronghold of Ramadi, west of Baghdad, in the latest attack targeting security forces. - (AP)
10 US crew die off Djibouti
NAIROBI - Ten out of 12 crew members died when two US Marine Corps helicopters crashed off the coast of Djibouti on Friday, according to the US military in the Horn of Africa country. The small Red Sea state of Djibouti is a hub of US counter-terrorism operations in the region. - (Reuters)
Taliban kills three in Afghanistan
KANDAHAR - Afghan police say Taliban gunmen killed three policemen yesterday in a raid on a security post in a southern province where thousands of British troops will soon be based.
Violence has intensified in Afghanistan in recent months, particularly in the south and east, as Nato prepares to send peacekeepers. - (Reuters)
Aristide might go home, Mbeki says
JOHANNESBURG - South African president Thabo Mbeki has said that former Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide may be able to return home after consultation with Haiti's new president, according to local media.
Mr Aristide has been living in exile in South Africa since 2004 when he fled an uprising over charges of rights abuses and corruption. - (Reuters)
Bono has lunch with Lula
BRASILIA - Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva hosted U2's Bono for lunch yesterday. Minister of culture Gilberto Gil, who became famous as a pop music star before joining the government, joined them. Local media quoted Bono as saying he wanted to discuss fighting poverty with the president. - (Reuters)
Last respects paid to Fatima's Lucia
FATIMA - Tens of thousands of Christian pilgrims have braved cold and rainy weather to pay their final respects to the last of three shepherd children who said they had seen the Virgin Mary in Portugal in 1917.
Sister Lucia, the last of the three, died a year ago. She was moved yesterday to her final resting place in the shrine of Fatima, one of the most important in the Catholic Church. - (Reuters)
Holocaust denial trial for Irving
VIENNA - British historian David Irving goes on trial today on charges of denying the Holocaust occurred, a crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison in Austria, once run by the Nazis.
Irving (67) has been in custody since his arrest in November on charges stemming from two speeches he gave in Austria in 1989 in which he was accused of denying the Nazis' extermination of six million Jews. - (AP)