Iraqi Palestinians ordered to leave under threat of death
More than 600 Palestinians are believed to have died at the hands of Shia militias since the war began in 2003, including at least 300 from the Baladiat area of Baghdad. Many were tortured with electric drills before they died.
Mogadishu slides back into anarchy MOGADISHU, Somalia's chaotic capital, is sliding back into anarchy after armed groups launched the latest in a series of hit-and-run rocket attacks yesterday.
Ethiopia's prime minister, Meles Zenawi, has said he will pull his troops out before the end of this month, leaving fears of a power vacuum which could be filled, once again, by the well-armed Islamists.
Aziz calls on pontiff for help TARIQ AZIZ, the former deputy prime minister of Iraq, has thrown himself on the mercy of the Pope in an attempt to secure his release from US custody.
Aziz faces a possible death penalty after being charged on Friday with ordering the deaths of tens of thousands of Shia Muslims who rebelled in 1991. Last week, the 70-year-old, a Catholic who has been in custody since his arrest by American forces in April 2003, sent a handwritten plea to the Vatican, asking Pope Benedict XVI to act as a guarantor for him to be released on bail.
Stressed doc chopped off penis A ROMANIAN doctor who hacked off a patient's penis during surgery before slicing it into pieces has claimed he was suffering from stress.
Naum Ciomu, 58, was operating on the man to correct a testicular malformation when he lost his temper. Grabbing a scalpel, he sliced off the penis in front of amazed nursing staff, then cut it into three pieces before storming out of the operating theatre at the Panduri Urology Hospital in Bucharest.
A Romanian court has ordered Professor Ciomu to pay ?150,000 damages and ?30,000 costs to the victim, Nelu Radonescu, a 36-year-old builder.
Reporter's murder suspect caught TURKISH police last night detained a man suspected of killing journalist Hrant Dink in Istanbul. The suspect was caught on a bus in the Black Sea city of Samsun after a tip-off from his father, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because an official announcement was not expected until later today. Earlier, police had identified the suspect as Ogun Samas and distributed his picture to the press.
Sex-traffic victims can stay in UK VICTIMS of sex trafficking will get the legal right to stay in Britain temporarily under plans to be unveiled by Tony Blair to encourage women to testify against their captors.
The British Prime Minister will say fears that such rights could encourage immigration are overriden by the need to tackle a modern-day form of slavery. He will outline his views at a Downing Street reception tomorrow to mark the bicentenary of the abolition in the UK of the slave trade. Police estimate that 1,400 women a year are trafficked into Britain.
DNA tests confirm Janjalani death KHADAFFY Janjalani, the head of the brutal al-Qa'ida-linked Abu Sayyaf group, died in a clash with troops four months ago, the government said yesterday, citing results from DNA testing done in the United States.
The news came four days after US-backed Philippine troops killed senior Abu Sayyaf commander Abu Sulaiman.
Lake baby mum sent to jail A BRAZILIAN woman was convicted of attempted murder and sentenced to eight years and four months in prison yesterday for putting her baby in a plastic bag and setting her afloat in a Brazilian lake a year ago. Simone Cassiano da Silva, 30, was found guilty by a jury in southeastern Minas Gerais state of abandoning her 2-month-old baby in the Pampulha Lagoon 300 miles northeast of Sao Paulo. Amateur footage broadcast on Brazilian TV had shown rescuers using a long tree branch to pull the black plastic bag out of the water. The girl was found inside, wearing a pink dress.
