Turkey bombards Kurdish rebel bases
SULAIMANIYAH
Turkish aircraft bombed suspected rebel bases in northern Iraq, killing a woman, damaging infrastructure and forcing villagers to flee, local officials said. The Turkish military said that its combat aircraft had hit the regions of Zap, Hakurk and Avasin and the Qandil mountains, known to harbour bases of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). General Yasar Buyukanit, the head of the Turkish Army, said that the US opened northern Iraqi airspace to enable the air strikes, which had been carried out using US military intelligence. All aircraft returned safely to base. Artillery continued to fire on the targets after the raids, which the Iraqi Government condemned.
Communist jail break
RAIPUR Nearly 300 communist rebel supporters escaped from a jail in eastern India in a dramatic mass breakout, police said. The prisoners fled the jail in Chhattisgarh, a hotbed of Maoist insurgency, after overpowering their guards during a meal. (AFP)
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Honeymoons over
MIAMI The honeymoons are over for a Cuban woman, 26, who accumulated at least ten husbands in the US. Eunice Lopez was charged with bigamy after the authorities discovered that she had married ten times between 2002 and 2006. (AP)
Body theft arrests
VIENNA Three hospital workers have been suspended on suspicion of stealing bodies from a mortuary at the Kaiser Franz Josef Hospital in Vienna and trying to sell them for profit. They were arrested after hospital officials received a tip off. (AP)
Happy worms
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WELLINGTON The inventor of a worm-driven composting lavatory has overcome concerns from bureaucrats that his system traumatised the creatures. Coll Bell’s “wormorator”, an alternative to septic tanks, has proved that his worms are happy. (AFP)
Hamburg seeks Santa record
HAMBURG An estimated 5,000 people in Hamburg try to win the record for the highest number of Santas to take part in a race – won by Liverpool in 2005 when 3,299 runners took part. (AFP)
Parties unite to take on Mugabe
HARARE Supporters of Morgan Tsvangirai, the main opposition leader in Zimbabwe, pledged to bury political differences with rivals to build a united front against President Mugabe in elections next year. The opposition Movement for Democratic Change has been split since 2005. (AFP)
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Israeli experts try persuasion
JERUSALEM Israel has sent intelligence experts to America to convince it that Iran is still pursuing nuclear weapons and that a recent US intelligence report to the contrary is wrong. Israel says its own intelligence shows Iran is still trying to acquire nuclear weapons. (AP)
Crackdown on ‘immorality’
TEHRAN Iranian police have closed 24 internet caf?s and other coffee shops in as many hours, detaining 23 people as part of a broad crackdown on immoral behaviour in the Islamic state, Colonel Nader Sarkari, a police commander, said. (Reuters)
Rebels abduct French reporter
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BOSASSO Gunmen in the northern Puntland region of Somalia have kidnapped a French journalist, the area’s deputy governor confirmed. “A French journalist has been kidnapped by unknown gunmen,” Yusuf Mumin Bidde said. (Reuters)
Winnie-the-Pooh socks payout
SAN FRANCISCO A northern California school district has agreed to pay $95,000 (£47,000) in lawyers’ fees to five families who sued the school over its dress code after a child was disciplined for wearing Winnie-the-Pooh cartoon character socks. (AP)