A round-up of today's other stories in brief...
Al-Sadr returns to Iraq from Iranian exile
NAJAF – Anti-US Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr returned to Iraq yesterday from years of self-imposed exile in Iran, after his faction struck a deal to join a new government, officials said.
A somewhat diminished maverick whose militia was once viewed by US forces as the greatest threat to Iraq, Mr Sadr’s return could boost prime minister Nuri al-Maliki as he tries to form his second government before a full US withdrawal this year.
Mazan al-Sadi, a Sadrist cleric in Baghdad, said Mr Sadr, whose movement fought US forces and was accused of many sectarian killings after the 2003 US-led invasion, was visiting the Shia holy city of Najaf in southern Iraq. Hundreds of followers flocked to the Imam Ali shrine in the city to chant “yes, yes to Moqtada” as he arrived there. – (Reuters)
Man arrested after hijack attempt
OSLO – Turkish police arrested a man who tried unsuccessfully to hijack a Turkish Airlines plane en route from Oslo to Istanbul yesterday, Norwegian TV network TV2 reported.
“A person in the back of the plane put on a mask and threatened to blow up the plane in the air,” TV2 quoted witness Salim Tahar as saying. “The man spoke Turkish and demanded the plane return to Oslo. ”
Mr Tahar said the man appeared to be holding something but it was not clear what. He said the crew moved the other passengers to the front of the plane, while the would-be hijacker remained at the back. Turkish police entered the aircraft when it landed in Istanbul and arrested the man TV2 said. Turkish Airlines confirmed to TV2 that there had been a hijack attempt.– (Reuters)
US customs finds dangerous beetle
LOS ANGELES – Customs officials said yesterday they had intercepted a shipment of rice at Los Angeles airport containing a beetle considered to be one of the world’s most dangerous pests. Agents found live adult and larvae of the khapra beetle in a shipment of Indian rice arriving from Saudi Arabia last week, customs spokesman Jaime Ruiz said.
Entomologists from the US department of agriculture identified the insects as the khapra beetle, one of the world’s most destructive pests of grain products and seeds. Mr Ruiz said established infections of the insect were difficult to control because of its ability to live without food for long periods of time and relative tolerance to surface insecticides and fumigants. – (Reuters)