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World briefs - December 12, 2009

December 12, 2009 Edition 1

Ex-president's corpse stolen

NICOSIA: Vandals dug up the grave of former Cyprus president Tassos Papadopoulos and made off with his corpse, security sources said yesterday.

Papadopoulos died a year ago and was buried at a cemetery on the outskirts of Nicosia, the capital.

A Reuters witness at the graveyard said the coffin had been opened, and was empty. Family members and scores of police were at the scene.

Light sentence for killer cop

KARABULAK: A court in Russia has convicted a policeman over the 2008 killing of a journalist and sentenced him to two years in prison. The victim's relatives have reacted angrily, saying the sentence is too light. Journalist Magomed Yevloyev ran a website that reported on abuses, abductions and killings plaguing the southern Ingushetia province. Police claim he was accidentally shot in the head.

Flash floods in Greece kill three

ATHENS: Flash floods killed three people in central Greece following heavy rainfall, authorities said yesterday. The prefecture of Magnesia has declared a state of emergency. Two farmers drowned there on Thursday after a torrent trapped them in their tractors. A third man in the same area was swept away by the waters and found dead at the bottom of a shaft.

Maoist rebels slain in India

NEW DELHI: At least seven Maoist rebels were killed in a gunbattle with security forces yesterday in India's central Chhattisgarh state, police said. The fighting took place between the militants and the state police's Special Task Force in the forests of Bastar in the Dantewada district, about 450km south of the state capital Raipur. Police said dozens of rebels managed to flee into the forests.

Iceberg alert off Oz waters

SYDNEY: Australia's Bureau of Meteorology issued a shipping alert yesterday after a massive iceberg was spotted 1 700km off the country's south-western coast. The iceberg is 19km long and 8km wide, and is edging slowly north-eastward towards Western Australia state. The iceberg is believed to be one of several that split off Antarctica in 2000 when parts of two major ice shelves fractured.

West Bank mosque trashed

YASUF, West Bank: Assailants vandalised a Palestinian mosque yesterday, burning prayer carpets and holy books, and leaving behind Hebrew graffiti indicating the rampage was the work of settlers angry over Israel's plans to curb settlement construction. The assailants entered the village of Yasuf in the northern West Bank before dawn, according to Israeli police.

Blast kills Afghan child

KABUL: Afghan police say a blast has killed a child and wounded at least a dozen other civilians at a wedding. Officials gave differing accounts of the explosion on Thursday night in Nangarhar province. The Interior Ministry said a child was killed and 12 other people were wounded when someone threw a grenade. A police spokesman said it was a mine that exploded, and that it wounded 16.

Another club fire victim dies

MOSCOW: Russian news agencies say the death toll from last weekend's fire at a nightclub has risen to 141. Emergency officials said yesterday that among the five people who died overnight was the wife of the Lame Horse club's artistic director. The blaze in the city of Perm broke out early last Saturday when an indoor fireworks display ignited the plastic-and-wood ceiling.

Female circumcision banned

KAMPALA: A Ugandan official said parliament has passed a bill banning female genital mutilation. Minister of Ethics and Integrity James Nsaba Buturo said the new law, passed without opposition on Thursday, could give offenders a life sentence. Female genital circumcision has been practised mostly in north-eastern Uganda on more than 3 000 girls each December.

Aliens scooped off rocks

ATHENS: Greek authorities say fishing boats have rescued 25 illegal immigrants found perched on a rocky islet in the Aegean Sea. They have also recovered the bodies of two others who appear to have drowned. The Merchant Marine Ministry said yesterday those rescued were taken to the nearby island of Leros for medical checks. It was not immediately clear where the immigrants were from.