Today's other world news stories in brief
Iraq security will improve - US analysts
WASHINGTON -Iraqi prime minister Nuri al-Maliki's government will become more precarious over the next 6 to 12 months, while security will improve modestly even as sectarian violence remains high, US intelligence agencies have said. Declassified findings of the National Intelligence Estimate said there had been "measurable but uneven improvements" in Iraqi security since January, under the US troop surge. Meanwhile, al-Qaeda fighters kidnapped 15 Iraqi women and children after attacking two villages north of Baghdad yesterday and killing a religious leader who had been trying to form a tribal alliance against al-Qaeda. Police said 32 people had been killed in an hour-long battle between villagers and al-Qaeda. - (Reuters)
Spain claims arrest of Nazi
MADRID -Spanish police said yesterday they arrested Austrian Holocaust denier Gerd Honsik, 15 years after he fled his homeland to evade a prison sentence.
An Austrian court sentenced Honsik in 1992 to 18 months in prison after he published a book called Acquittal for Hitler. Honsik (65) was convicted under an Austrian law banning people from re-engaging in activities in support of Adolf Hitler's Nazi party or its ideas. - (Reuters)
Bill gives powers over foreign firms
HARARE -Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe's government introduced a bill yesterday to give Zimbabweans majority ownership of foreign companies, a move critics say will deepen an economic crisis. If passed, it would give the government sweeping powers over how foreign companies, including mines, operate in Zimbabwe. - (Reuters)
Belgian leader to quit, says report
BRUSSELS -Yves Leterme, appointed to form and head Belgium's next government, will tender his resignation to the king after party leaders reached an impasse over forming a coalition, Belga news agency cited unnamed sources as saying. Neither Mr Leterme's office nor the royal palace would confirm or deny the report. - (Reuters)
George Wallace attacker to be freed
NEW YORK -The man who shot and paralysed Alabama governor George Wallace on the presidential campaign trail in 1972 is due to be let out of prison this year after serving 35 years of a 53-year term, a prison official said. Arthur Bremer (57) has had his sentence reduced for good behaviour and is schedule to be freed in December, the prison said. - (Reuters)
Mars soil may have life, says data
LONDON -The soil on Mars may contain microbial life, according to a new interpretation of data first collected more than 30 years ago. Joop Houtkooper of the University of Giessen, Germany, said the Viking spacecraft which landed in 1976 may have found signs of a weird life form based on hydrogen peroxide on the subfreezing, arid Martian surface. - (Reuters)