A round-up of today's other world news in brief
Clashes leave number dead in Darfur
KHARTOUM – Rebels and government-backed fighters clashed close to a strategic town in Sudan’s South Darfur state yesterday, leaving an unknown number dead.
The latest outbreak of fighting stoked tensions in the region ahead of a decision by the International Criminal Court on whether to issue an arrest warrant against Sudan’s president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, for alleged war crimes in Darfur. – (Reuters)
Tsunami warning after quake
PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY, Russia – Russia issued a tsunami warning in the Far Eastern coastal city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky after a large earthquake off the Kuril Islands. A witness in the city said the force of the earthquake threw him out of bed. – (Reuters)
Militant group’s camps closed
ISLAMABAD – Pakistan said yesterday security forces had closed five training camps run by Lashkar-e-Taiba, the group blamed for the Mumbai attack, and arrested 124 of its leaders and those of a related charity.
Tension between Pakistan and India has been simmering since the late November attack in which gunmen killed 179 people in Mumbai. – (Reuters)
Second day of Sofia protests
SOFIA – Thousands of Bulgarians renewed calls for the government to resign over corruption and a host of economic problems, including a cut-off in gas supplies, in a second day of protests yesterday.
Police deployed in large numbers in front of parliament to try to prevent a repeat of Wednesday’s unrest in which rioters, including students and farmers, clashed with police and smashed windows in some of the worst violence in Sofia in 12 years. – (Reuters)
Grenade blast at bus station
ADDIS ABABA – An apparently accidental hand-grenade explosion wounded 33 people, nine seriously, yesterday at the central bus station in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, police said.
“This does not appear to be a terrorist attack. It seems a passenger was carrying the grenade in their luggage and it detonated accidentally, federal police commander Demash Hailu said.– (Reuters)
Serb general starts sentence
AMSTERDAM – A former Bosnian Serb general sentenced to life in prison by the UN war crimes tribunal for crimes committed during the 1992-95 Bosnian war was transferred to Germany yesterday to serve his sentence, the court said.
Stanislav Galic was sentenced in 2003 for shelling and shooting civilians during the siege of Sarajevo. – (Reuters)