Other world stories in brief
Car bomb kills Saddam's tribal leader
TIKRIT -The head of Saddam Hussein's tribe was killed in a car bomb explosion in the town of Awja, north of Baghdad yesterday.
Maj Hassan Emhimid, a police officer in the nearby town of Tikrit, said a bomb was attached to the underside of Sheikh Ali al-Neda's vehicle. A spokesman for the Salahuddin governor confirmed the sheikh, head of the Albu-Naser tribe, had been killed. - (Reuters)
Afghan census cancelled
KABUL- The first planned census in Afghanistan for 30 years has been cancelled, delivering a serious blow to humanitarian aid and economic opportunities in the country.
The census was planned for this summer to track the population and humanitarian needs, but officials halted the project, citing security concerns. - (Reuters)
Ministers killed in plane crash
NAIROBI- A Kenyan cabinet minister and assistant minister died yesterday along with two others when their light plane crashed near the Masai Mara game reserve.
Roads minister Kipkalya Kones (56) and assistant minister for home affairs Lorna Laboso (47) were aboard the plane with a pilot and a security guard. - (Reuters)
Paedophile killer convicted
BRUSSELS- A Belgian court convicted a man of the sexual assault and murder of two Belgian girls in 2006 after a trial that revived memories of the Marc Dutroux killings a decade ago.
Abdallah Ait Oud (40) denied the charges but the jury found that forensic and circumstantial evidence linked him to the killings of Stacy Lemmens (7) and Nathalie Mahy (10). - (Reuters)
MDC rejects call for unity cabinet
HARARE- Zimbabwe's opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai rejected calls for a national unity government instead of a presidential run-off vote and said his party was sure to win the election despite government violence. - (Reuters)