More world news in brief.
Bomber kills 20 at Baghdad Sunni funeral
BAGHDAD -A suicide bomber killed 20 people and wounded dozens yesterday at a funeral being attended by Sunni Arab tribesmen opposed to al-Qaeda west of Baghdad, Iraqi police said.
Police said the bomber blew himself up inside the funeral tent in the village of Abu Munasir in Anbar province. - (Reuters)
Israel 'dying', says Ahmadinejad
TEHRAN -Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said yesterday that Israel was "dying" and that people in the Middle East would destroy it if given the chance.
"The Zionist regime is dying," Mr Ahmadinejad said in a speech in the northern city of Gorgan. "The criminals should know that regional nations hate this fake and criminal regime and if the smallest and briefest chance is given to regional nations, they will destroy it." - (Reuters)
Jailed for aiding Islamist fighters
PARIS -A French court has sentenced six French men and one Algerian to between 18 months and seven years in prison for their involvement in a network which smuggled Islamist fighters to Iraq.
The seven, arrested in 2005, could have been jailed for up to 10 years for "criminal association in a terrorist enterprise". - (Reuters)
Italy's tough line on immigrants
ROME -Silvio Berlusconi's new right-wing government is preparing tough emergency legislation to tighten screening of immigrants - especially Roma people from eastern Europe, whom many in Italy blame for crime.
The plan could include reimposing border checks, despite Italy's membership of the EU passport-free Schengen zone, making illegal immigration a jailable offence, speeding up deportations and turning holding centres into detention camps. - (Reuters)
Freud painting fetches $33.64m
NEW YORK -A Lucian Freud painting sold for $33.64 million at Christie's art auction on Tuesday, shattering the record for a piece by a living artist.
The British painter's 1995 portrait of a nude woman sleeping on a sofa, Benefits Supervisor Sleeping, sold for just under its high pre-sale estimate. - (Reuters)
Lebanon's move on Hizbullah
BEIRUT -Lebanon's US-backed cabinet is expected to cancel two measures it took against Hizbullah and which triggered fighting in which the Iranian-backed movement briefly took over parts of Beirut, political sources said yesterday.
"You can say it's a done deal, but we're waiting for the cabinet meeting," one political source said.
The prime minister Fouad Siniora was due to hold a cabinet meeting last night. - (Reuters)