Today's other stories in brief
32 killed by suicide bomb at Iraq funeral
BAGHDAD - A suicide bomber wearing a vest packed with explosives killed 32 people when he blew himself up among mourners at a Shia funeral north of Baghdad yesterday, Iraqi police said.
The attack took place inside a crowded mourning tent in the town of Khalis in the volatile Diyala province. More than 60 people were wounded. - (Reuters)
UK war criminal jailed over abuse
LONDON - Britain's first convicted war criminal was sentenced to one year in jail yesterday for mistreating Iraqi prisoners in a case that exposed senior commanders to accusations they had authorised abuse.
Cpl Donald Payne was also expelled from the army, becoming the only British soldier punished in the case of Baha Musa, an Iraqi hotel receptionist who died after suffering 93 injuries from beatings while in British custody in 2003. - (Reuters)
Phone talks to free BBC reporter fail
RAMALLAH - The Palestinian government held talks yesterday with those holding abducted BBC reporter Alan Johnston in the Gaza Strip and rejected their ransom demands, the deputy prime minister, Azzam al-Ahmad, said.
"There was a phone conversation with the abductors this morning. For our part, all the conditions that were made [by the captors] were rejected," Mr Ahmad, a Fatah leader, said in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
Mr Ahmad declined to give further details but added that talks were at a sensitive stage some six weeks after Johnston was kidnapped. - (Reuters)
Prince Harry to be deployed to Iraq
LONDON - Prince Harry will be deployed with his unit to Iraq, Richard Dannatt, the head of the army, made clear yesterday in a move designed to end speculation that the prince would not go despite his wish to do so.
Controversy about his deployment to southern Iraq this month with his regiment, the Blues and Royals, has been fuelled by the deaths of 12 British troops killed by insurgents or Shia militias in April.
- (Guardian service)