Today's other stories in brief
New leader for Taliban in Pakistan
ISLAMABAD – The Pakistani Taliban announced a successor to slain commander Baitullah Mehsud, but intelligence officials said yesterday it was probably a smokescreen meant to hold together a movement left leaderless for almost three weeks.
Taliban officials rang journalists in northwest Pakistan on Saturday to say Hakimullah Mehsud, a young militant who commands fighters in the Orakzai, Khyber and Kurram tribal regions, had been chosen as the new chief by a leadership council, or shura. – (Reuters)
Five die in French light plane crash
Regional emergency services say a small tourist plane has crashed in a field in southern France, killing all five people aboard.
The emergency service for the Var region says the Cessna plane crashed today in the village of Callas, and immediately caught fire. – (Reuters)
Rebels reject call for ceasefire
MOGADISHU – Somali insurgents yesterday rejected a government call for a ceasefire during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and accused the president of trying to use religion as a cover for re-arming his troops.
President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, a former Islamist rebel, had called for an end to fighting during Ramadan to allow people to pray.
"We will not accept that ceasefire call. This holy month will be a triumphant time for mujahideen and we will fight the enemy," Hizbul Islam leader Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys told a news conference. – (Reuters)
12 students die in girls’ school fire
DAR ES SALAAM – A fire that started when a student at a central Tanzanian girls school tried to study in candlelight has killed 12 students, police said yesterday . The Saturday night incident at Idodi School razed a dormitory to the ground. – (Reuters)
Tories in row over tax break
The row over Tory support for the NHS in the UK was reignited after a poll found that two-thirds of the party’s MP’s backed tax relief on private health insurance.
The poll of 150 MPs, carried out by ComRes for BMI Healthcare, a private hospital group, found that 66 per cent of Tories supported tax relief on standard rate income tax for private medical insurance. Just 1 per cent of Labour MPs and 5 per cent of the Liberal Democrats backed the idea. – (PA)
Italy calls for EU policy on illegals
RIMINI – Italy called for a common European Union solution to the problem of illegal immigration days after the latest reported drownings of migrants in the Mediterranean. "We must consider this a European problem. The EU has made many statements . . . but has not yet said just what should happen when a group of migrants reaches the borders of Europe," said Italy foreign minister Franco Frattini. – (Reuters)