A round-up of today's other news stories in brief:
Bomb outside Kurdish party office kills nine
BAGHDAD - A suicide bomber killed nine people outside the offices of a Kurdish political party in northern Iraq yesterday and clashes between gunmen loyal to an anti-American Shia cleric and Iraqi soldiers killed six in the south.
A dump truck rigged with explosives was detonated at the offices of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, led by Iraq's president Jalal Talabani, in the restive city of Mosul, Kareem Khalaf, a Mosul police colonel, said. - (Reuters)
Executed British soldier pardoned
LONDON - A British soldier who was executed during the first World War for cowardice is to be granted a pardon, media quoted his family as saying yesterday.
Pte Harry Farr was shot at dawn on October 2nd, 1916, on the orders of his own officers for refusing to return to the front line, but relatives have argued he was suffering from severe shell-shock.
A posthumous pardon for Pte Farr could raise hopes for the families of scores of other soldiers, executed in similar circumstances, who are also seeking pardons for their long-dead relatives. - (Reuters)
Ex-ruler to contest Nigerian election
ABUJA - Former military ruler Ibrahim Babangida says he will run in Nigeria's presidential election next April, bidding to return to power 13 years after he was forced to step down.
The declaration by the retired army general raises the stakes for the landmark vote, when Nigeria is expected to see one democratic president hand over to another for the first time since independence from Britain in 1960. - (Reuters)
Policemen held over entry visas
HARGEISA - Three Belgian policemen accompanying a deported man were arrested for not having visas when they landed in Somaliland yesterday, an official said. "They were arrested because they did not have any entry visas and at the same time were trying to dump a deported person without prior notification to the government," said Ali Mohamed Waran-Adde, Somaliland's civil aviation minister. - (Reuters)
UN renews Haiti peace mission
NEW YORK - The United Nations Security Council has renewed the mandate of the UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti for an additional six months at about its current size to help keep violence in check and restore stability.
A resolution drafted by Argentina and adopted unanimously by the 15- nation council authorised the deployment of up to 7,200 troops and as many as 1,951 international police officers, roughly in line with the recommendations of UN secretary general, Kofi Annan. - (Reuters)
Mugabe in 'trigger' threat to enemies
HARARE - Zimbabwe's president Robert Mugabe has issued a warning that his army is ready to "pull the trigger" on enemies of his government.
"We want to remind those who might turn on the state that we have armed men and women who carry guns and are allowed to pull the trigger on them," he said yesterday.
Zimbabwe is in a state of collapse, with high unemployment, shortages of most basic products and an inflation rate nearing 1,000 per cent. Police have clamped down on even the smallest protest. Mr Mugabe has made it clear he will not tolerate dissent. - (Reuters)
Six killed in Spanish car crash
MADRID - Six people including two children died yesterday in a head-on collision between two cars in northwest Spain. Two two other adults suffered serious injuries in the crash in Zamora province, officials said. - (Reuters)