A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Taliban gunmen kill at least 30
HELMAND - Taliban gunmen killed at least 30 people, many from the same family, during an ambush in the southern Afghan province of Helmand, officials and relatives said yesterday.
Muhammad Khan, a local parliamentarian, said the insurgents had shot at an armed convoy outside Sangin early on Sunday. He said 11 people were killed, including his two brothers.
The death toll rose sharply hours later when the Taliban ambushed villagers who went to collect the dead and wounded from the first attack, Mr Khan said. In total at least 30 people were killed, including one of his sons. - (Guardian service)
Teens murdered in New Orleans
NEW ORLEANS - New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin has asked for National Guard troops and state police to patrol the city and help quell rising violence after five teenagers were murdered over the weekend, local media said yesterday.
The mayor and city council members held a special meeting in the wake of the predawn shooting of five young men on Saturday in one of the most deadly attacks in the history of the city. - (Reuters)
Detained US journalist freed
LAGOS - Nigerian secret police have freed a US journalist arrested by the navy for photographing an oil facility after three days in detention, a rights campaigner said yesterday.
Ed Kashi of National Geographic Magazine and his Nigerian assistant were arrested on Friday while photographing a gas flare at the Obama flow station in Bayelsa state. - (Reuters)
Indictment of US soldier sought
ROME - A prosecutor said yesterday that Italy requested the indictment of a US soldier in the fatal shooting of an Italian intelligence agent at a checkpoint in Baghdad last year - a case that has strained relations between Rome and Washington.
The fatal shooting of Nicola Calipari in March 4th, 2005, angered Italians, already largely opposed to the war in Iraq. - (AP)
UN council offers 'great new chance'
GENEVA - The new UN Human Rights Council offers a "great new chance" for the United Nations to renew its struggle for global human rights, secretary general Kofi Annan said yesterday on the day it was inaugurated. He told the council it should avoid the political point-scoring of its discredited predecessor, the Human Rights Commission. - (AP)
US queries need for peacekeepers
UNITED NATIONS - US ambassador John Bolton questioned the need for the United Nations to send peacekeepers back to turbulent East Timor yesterday. Asked if UN troops left the western Pacific nation too soon, Mr Bolton said: "Certainly not." - (Reuters)
Suu Kyi's 61st birthday marked
YANGON - Burma democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi marked her 61st birthday under house arrest yesterday while pro-democracy activists around the world staged protests against the military junta. - (Reuters)