News in Brief

Eid attacks kill dozens in Iraq
Afp, Baghdad

Iraqis angrily blamed the authorities yesterday for failing to prevent attacks that killed 74 people as they marked the Eid-ul-Fitr holiday ending Iraq's bloodiest Ramadan in years.
The violence, which also wounded more than 320 people, was roundly condemned by the international community.
It was the latest in months of bloodshed that have sparked worries of a revival of the all-out sectarian war that peaked in 2006 and 2007 and left tens of thousands dead.
The attacks came just weeks after assaults on prisons near Baghdad, claimed by an al-Qaeda front group, freed hundreds of prisoners, including leading militants, prompting warnings of a surge in violence.
Iraqis voiced frustration with the government for failing to prevent the 16 car bombings and other attacks which killed 74 people on Saturday, 47 of them in the capital.

100 killed Sudan tribal clashes
Afp, Khartoum

Fighting between two Arab tribes has killed 100 people in Sudan's Darfur region, where hundreds had already died in worsening unrest this year, one of the combatants said yesterday.
The battle between a group of Rezeigat and the rival Maaliya tribe happened near Adila in East Darfur state on Saturday.
Inter-tribal and inter-ethnic fighting has been the major source of violence in Darfur this year, where an estimated 300,000 people were displaced in the first five months alone, the African Union-UN peacekeeping mission in Darfur (UNAMID) says.

Mugabe's poll win challenged
Guardian Online

Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe's political opponents went to court on Friday to challenge his victory in last week's elections and demand an immediate rerun.
Lawyers for the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) filed papers at the constitutional court alleging that the polls were rigged in favour of 89-year-old Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF party. Mugabe, Africa's oldest leader, won with 61% of the presidential vote.

Volcano erupts in Indonesia
CNN Online

Six people, including two children, died Saturday morning after a volcano erupted on an island in south-central Indonesia on Saturday, government officials reported.
Mount Rokatenda erupted at 4:27am Saturday, spewing ash clouds of up to 2000 meters from its peak. The volcano is located on the island of Palue, in East Nusa Tenggara province. Indonesia's volcanology agency ordered people to stay at least 3 kilometers away from the summit.

Qaeda kills 5 Yemen soldiers
Afp, Aden

An attack by "Al-Qaeda elements" at a gas terminal in Yemen killed five soldiers yesterday, a military source said, as Washington kept its embassy in Sanaa closed.
Sunday's attack follows a wave of US drone strikes against suspected al-Qaeda militants in Yemen that has killed 38 people since July 28.
The latest strike hit late on Saturday north of the port city of Aden, killing two people and wounding one.

Netanyahu well after surgery
Afp, Jerusalem

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was revovering yesterday after a hernia operation overnight in a Jerusalem hospital, his office said in a statement.
Surgery, at the prestigious Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital, was successful and lasted about an hour, it added.
Netanyahu, 63, was expected to be discharged yesterday afternoon.

Malians vote in poll run-off
Afp, Bamako

Malians yesterday voted in a watershed presidential election run-off expected to usher in a new dawn of peace and stability in the conflict-scarred nation.
Almost seven million voters have a choice between former premier Ibrahim Boubacar Keita and ex-finance minister Soumaila Cisse to lead Mali's recovery following a military coup that ignited an Islamist insurgency and a French-led military intervention.
Both candidates declared themselves confident of victory in the run-off, called after none of the 27 candidates in the first round on July 28 achieved an outright majority.

Belfast riot: Dozens of cops hurt
Afp, London

Dozens of police officers were injured during riots by pro-British Protestants in Belfast, in what Northern Ireland's police chief condemned on Saturday as "mindless anarchy".
A total of 56 officers were hurt, four requiring hospital treatment, when they were attacked with bricks, bottles and paving stones from the street on Friday night, police said. At least two members of the public were also hurt.
Seven people were arrested for offences ranging from riotous behaviour to hijacking, and Northern Ireland police chief Matt Baggott warned that many more arrests would follow.
Flash floods kill 21 near Kabul
Afp, Kabul

Flash floods triggered by heavy rain and hail storms killed more than 20 people on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghan officials said yesterday, with a mosque, houses and farmland also damaged.
The flooding hit the Shakardara and Paghman districts to the north and west of Kabul after the unseasonal rains left knee-deep water across many parts of the war-battered city.
Afghanistan has had one of its hottest summers in decades, and the sudden storms quickly overwhelmed Kabul's poor drainage systems.
Last week flooding in six eastern and southeastern provinces and some districts of the capital killed more than 40 people, destroying hundreds of hectares of farmland and displacing hundreds of people.