A round up of tpday's other world news in brief ...
Al-Qaeda tells Egyptians to reject Obama
DUBAI - Al-Qaeda’s second-in-command urged Egyptians not to be seduced by the “polished words” of what he called the criminal Barack Obama when the US president makes a speech in Cairo seeking to repair ties with the Muslim world.
“O, Egypt’s free, righteous and honourable people and mujahideen; stand united in the face of this criminal,” Ayman al-Zawahri, an Egyptian, said in an audio recording posted on an al- Qaeda-linked Islamist website. “[Obama’s] bloody messages have been received and are still being received and they will not be concealed by public relations campaigns or theatrical visits or polished words.” Mr Obama has chosen Egypt to make an address to the Islamic world that he had promised for early in his presidency. – (Reuters)
Death toll rises to 61 in mine fire
JOHANNESBURG – The death toll rose to least 61 yesterday from an underground fire that killed illegal miners at a disused gold mine in South Africa, Harmony Gold Mining Company.
“Today we found 25 more bodies,” said Tom Smith, head of Harmonys operations in the part of the country where the abandoned shaft is located. “The bodies are not burnt. It seems more of a case of gas or smoke inhalation.” – (Reuters)
Afghan civilians die in bombing
KABUL – Six Afghan civilians, including two women and two children, were killed in a suicide bomb attack near the main base for US-led troops in Afghanistan yesterday, the interior ministry said.
The attack happened near Bagram airfield, about 60km north of Kabul. With violence surging despite rising numbers of foreign troops, a police spokesman in western Farah province also said at least 10 Afghan guards working for a US security firm were killed by Taliban on Monday. – (Reuters)
US troops to quit Iraqi cities soon
SAMARRA – US combat forces will vacate all Iraqi cities on schedule by the end of this month, the commander of US forces in Iraq said yesterday, including the insurgent stronghold of Mosul. US combat troops are scheduled to leave Iraq’s towns and cities by June 30th and redeploy to bases outside, according to a security pact that took effect in January. But some US and Iraqi officials had suggested this might have to be delayed for Mosul, which is still plagued by al-Qaeda and other insurgent groups.
– (Reuters)
Man jailed for killing relatives
SARAJEVO – A man who killed six of his relatives in a northern Bosnian village in the deadliest incident since the end of the country’s 1992-95 war was sentenced to 40 years in prison yesterday. The court in the northern town of Tuzla found Tomislav Petrovic (46) guilty of gunning down three people in their homes and three aboard a bus in the village of Trstje, and ordered that he undergo psychiatric treatment. – (Reuters)