Iraqis who worked for US offered sanctuary

Baghdad Thousands of Iraqis who fear being killed because they worked for the US Government or military in Iraq will be awarded visas allowing them to settle permanently in the United States.

US embassy officials said that 5,000 Iraqis would be able to enter the country each year during a five-year period. Ryan Crocker, the US Ambassador to Iraq, said: “With the launch of this special immigrant programme, we take a significant step towards . . . providing safe haven to those brave Iraqi citizens who risked their lives in order to serve the United States.”

Britain started accepting Iraqi translators as refugees last November, after militants killed some of its interpreters. (Reuters)

Drug lords ‘are being shielded’

New York The former top US counter-narcotics official in Afghanistan has accused the Karzai Government of shielding drug lords to stay in power (James Bone writes). Thomas Schweich claims in The New York Times that the Afghan Government ensured that officials suspected of involvement in the drug trade were not prosecuted and that the US and British militaries wanted nothing to do with drug eradication.

Missile crew fall asleep on duty

Washington Four US Air Force crew members face disciplinary action after falling asleep with a device containing a nuclear missile launch code. The air force said the device was locked away and that the codes were unusable. (AFP)

Family killed in fall

Milan A Dutchman and his three children fell to their death when they attempted to climb Mont Dolent in the Mont Blanc range, the Italian ANSA news agency said. The family were connected by ropes and the mother survived the fall. (AP)

UN human rights post

New York Ban Ki Moon, the UN chief, has told the General Assembly that he plans to name Navanethem Pillay, of South Africa, an International Criminal Court judge, to succeed Louise Arbour as human rights high commissioner. (AFP)

Estonians ready to conquer gulf

Tallinn Six Estonians aim to make the first recorded swim across the Gulf of Finland today. They planned to begin the 34-mile (55km) slog at 2am GMT, hoping to finish in 16 to 20 hours. The website metrotec.ee is tracking their swim. (AFP)

Abramovich in parliament bid

Moscow Less than a month after resigning as governor of Chukotka, Roman Abramovich, 41, the billionaire owner of Chelsea Football Club, has announced plans to run for the leadership of the local parliament in the remote Russian region.

Therapy sets off airport alert

Moscow An airport terminal in Vladivostok, Russia, was evacuated after a flight from Seoul set off a radiation alarm. The alert was called off when the

A little surprising

Stockholm Staff at Bromma airport in Sweden were shocked when a dwarf jumped out of a suitcase at the check-in counter. The dwarf was put in the suitcase for a prank by a comedy show broadcast on Kanal 5, a private television network. (AP)

Intact dinosaur find

Tokyo Palaeontologists working on rocks discovered in the Gobi desert in 2006 have revealed the skeleton of a young dinosaur that died 70 million years ago. The Tarbosaurus, a relative of Tyrannosaurus, lacks only neck bones and the tip of the tail. (AP)

‘Executions’ halted

Rome Management at a funfair has withdrawn an attraction in which a dummy was “executed” in an electric chair. Ricardo Trebino, a director at Luna Park, Milan, said it had been “decided to pardon the prisoner” after public protests. (AFP)

Beaten girl, 4, wakes

Rome A four-year-old French girl who was savagely beaten by her father in Rome has awoken from a coma and is improving in hospital. Julien Monnet, 37, repeatedly struck his daughter Luna’s head against a monument in the city on Saturday. (AP)

Name and shame

Wellington A New Zealand judge has ordered a nine-year-old girl’s name changed – from Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii. He said that she feared being mocked “and in that she has a greater level of insight than either of her parents”. (AFP)

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