Other world stories in brief
Bomb kills 51 in Baghdad market
BAGHDAD -A powerful car bomb exploded in a crowded market area of Baghdad yesterday, killing 51 people and wounding 75, in the deadliest attack in the Iraqi capital in months.
Police said the bomb was placed in a pick-up truck parked next to minibus taxis near the main market in the predominantly Shia neighbourhood of al-Hurriya in northwestern Baghdad. The explosion left a heap of smoking, mangled wreckage.
At that time of day, the market is packed with shoppers buying food before returning home. - ( Reuters)
Court biased, says Berlusconi
MILAN- Lawyers for Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi yesterday sought the removal of a judge trying him and British lawyer David Mills for graft, after Mr Berlusconi accused the court of political bias.
It was the second attempt in two days by lawyers for the conservative leader to delay the trial, in which Mr Berlusconi is charged with paying Mills $600,000 in 1997 to withhold incriminating details of his business dealings. Both of them deny any wrongdoing. - ( Reuters)
Smaller, faster French army
PARIS- French president Nicolas Sarkozy vowed yesterday to create a smaller, more mobile and better equipped army able to respond to modern-day threats ranging from terrorism to computer attacks.
Mr Sarkozy said the military needed to direct more resources to help soldiers in the field and put new emphasis on security within France's borders.
France is expected to cut more than 50,000 jobs. - ( Reuters)
Security fears after PC theft
LONDON- In the second serious security breach involving a senior government official in a week, a computer was stolen from the office of a British cabinet minister in a break-in.
The computer, in the constituency office of Hazel Blears, contained "restricted" government documents, including some on defence and extremism. - (Reuters)
Georgia detains Russian troops
TBILISI -Georgian police detained 14 Russian peacekeepers yesterday near its breakaway region of Abkhazia and Georgia said they were found transporting weapons without permission, a charge Moscow denied.
Ties between Moscow and Tbilisi deteriorated sharply after Russia bolstered economic support for Abkhazian separatists and increased its peacekeeping presence.
Syrian nuclear capacity doubted
DUBAI- There is no evidence Syria has the skilled personnel or the fuel to operate a large-scale nuclear facility, said the head of the United Nations atomic watchdog.
"We have no evidence that Syria has the human resources that would allow it to carry out a large nuclear programme.
"We do not see Syria having nuclear fuel," said International Atomic Energy Agency director general Mohamad ElBaradei. - (Reuters)
Hard rain falls on Moscow home
MOSCOW- Russian planes dropped a sack of cement on a suburban Moscow home last week while seeding clouds to prevent rain from spoiling a holiday, Russian media said yesterday.
"A pack of cement used in creating . . . good weather in the capital region . . . failed to pulverise completely at high altitude and fell on the roof of a house, making a hole about 80-100 cm (2.5-3 ft)," police in Naro-Fominsk told agency RIA-Novosti. - (Reuters)