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Gunmen assassinate Shiite official in Iraq
BAGHDAD -- Gunmen on a motorcycle assassinated an official of Iraq's biggest Shiite party Friday in the southern city of Basra, police said.
Sheik Salim al-Dirraji was gunned down in the Hayania district, which had been a stronghold of the Mahdi Army of anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr until a security crackdown last spring.
Al-Dirraji was a local official of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, the leading rival of al-Sadr's party within the Shiite community.
8 dead, 5 missing in canoe dam accident
LJUBLJANA, Slovenia -- Divers pulled six bodies out of the Sava River and fought strong currents Friday to search for five other people still missing after two canoes were crushed running over a dam in southeastern Slovenia.
Three people managed to swim ashore after their boats crumpled, overturned and capsized, but two of them died Friday in the hospital, raising the death toll to 8, according to police spokesman Robert Perc. The third survivor remained hospitalized.
The accident happened late Thursday, when two large canoes decided to run over a dam under construction near Sevnica, a town 56 miles southeast of the capital of Ljubljana. That section of the dam is currently built only to about the height of the water.
The trip -- ominously dubbed "The Final Descent" -- was organized by local officials, and all participants were Slovenians. It was to be the last ride down that section of the river, which will soon be blocked by the hydroelectric plant.
Two other canoes that were part of the excursion left the river before reaching the site.
Goran Rovan, who had been in one of the safe canoes, said the other canoes capsized and broke apart when they hit the whitewater passing through the dam gates. The occupants fell into the river and were sucked underwater by the rapids.
Sarkozy greets freed Betancourt in France
PARIS -- Arriving to a hero's welcome in France, Ingrid Betancourt said Friday that she cried a lot during her six years as a prisoner in the Colombian jungle. Today, she said, "I cry with joy."
French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife met the French-Colombian politician on the tarmac of an air base southwest of Paris, showering her with hugs, kisses and smiles.
Betancourt, 46, became a cause celebre in France after her abduction in 2002 while campaigning for Colombia's presidency. During her captivity by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, supporters around France held candlelight vigils and benefit concerts to attract world attention to her plight.
Her release in an ingenious Colombian military operation Wednesday was greeted here with a flood of enthusiasm. Hundreds of people, some waving Colombian or French flags, many with cameras, lined up Friday behind police barriers around Paris's Elysee presidential palace in hopes of catching a glimpse of her.
Scientist: Pakistan knew of nuke deal
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Pakistan's army under President Pervez Musharraf supervised a shipment of uranium centrifuges to North Korea in 2000, the disgraced architect of Pakistan's atomic weapons program said Friday.
The claim is the most controversial leveled by Abdul Qadeer Khan, who in recent months has been agitating for an end to house arrest and backing off his 2004 confession that he was solely responsible for spreading Pakistan's nuclear arms technology to Iran, North Korea and Libya.
The retired scientist's comments could prove embarrassing for Pakistan, which has repeatedly denied the army or government knew about Khan's proliferation activities before it was reported uncovered in 2003.
His allegations also could become awkward for Washington in its support for Musharraf, who has been a key U.S. ally in the region but has seen his power and popularity at home slide over the past year from anger over his firings of judges and confrontations with Islamic extremists.
Jerusalem attacker had Jewish girlfriend
JERUSALEM -- The Palestinian who went on a deadly rampage on a Jerusalem street this week had spent years in a romantic relationship with a Jewish Israeli woman, relatives said, a rarity in a city where such ties between Arabs and Jews are nearly nonexistent.
The woman, identified only as "S," said the attacker, Hussam Dwayat, fathered her child, now 7 years old.
Dwayat, 30, crushed three people to death and wounded dozens on one of Jerusalem's busiest thoroughfares Wednesday with the massive earth moving vehicle he used in his job at a nearby construction site. He smashed through traffic, drove over cars and flipped a crowded city bus on its side.
Dwayat was married to a Palestinian woman, Jamileh, 20, with whom he had two young sons, 3 and 5. But a previous girlfriend was a Jewish Israeli who at one point even stayed with his parents for 1 1/2 months, said his mother-in-law, Hoda Dabash.
"They were engaged, until her family took her away. They didn't like him," Dabash said.
France hands over ancient loot to Italy
ROME -- Italy's Culture Ministry says France has handed over 50 pieces of pottery dating back to as far as the fourth century B.C. that were looted from southern Italy.
The earthenware includes Greek-styled vases, wine cups and plates. They were seized in 2000 by French customs police from an Italian trying to cross the Spanish border with the treasures hidden in his car.
French Budget Minister Eric Woerth handed over the artifacts to Italian authorities in Paris on Friday. The artifacts are believed to have been secretly excavated in the southern Puglia region and are likely to go to museums there.
Italy has recently stepped up its fight against antiquities trafficking. |
