Compensation deal for bombing victims

Tripoli Libya and the United States signed a comprehensive deal yesterday to compensate all American and Libyan victims of bombings or their relatives.

The US victims include those who died in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie that killed 270 people, and the 1986 attack on a Berlin disco that killed three people and wounded 229.

Libyans who were killed in 1986 when US warplanes bombed Tripoli and Benghazi are also covered by the deal, Libyan officials said, which has been confirmed by the US. (Reuters)

Tsvangirai blocked

Harare Officials at Harare airport temporarily seized the passport of Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change. He is due to attend talks in South Africa. (AFP)

Murdered at Mass

Ciudad Juárez An armed gang killed nine people and wounded ten others during a Mass in a drug rehabilitation centre in a northern Mexican border town. Eight others died in separate attacks in the area overnight. (AFP)

Territory ceded

Calabar Nigeria has handed over the Bakassi peninsula to Cameroon, ending a 15-year dispute over territory rich in oil and gas, and complying with a ruling by the International Court of Justice at The Hague. (AFP)

Sailors charged

Baghdad Six US sailors have been charged with assault after inmates at the Camp Bucca detention centre in Iraq were allegedly beaten and sealed in a cell filled with pepper spray. (AP)

13 held over Tuscan crematorium scam

Rome Thirteen people have been arrested in Tuscany for allegedly operating a crematorium scam in which bodies were stored with the corpses of cats and dogs and burnt “ten or twenty at a time” (Richard Owen writes).

The arrests follow an investigation that began last year when police learnt that crosses and handles from coffins used at the crematorium at Massa Carrara were being sold for reuse. They then discovered that the bodies were being piled up for mass burning.

Those arrested include the funeral director, employees of the local council and a retired officer in the Carabinieri, Italy’s paramilitary police force.

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Mother committed

Berlin A German court has committed a woman to indefinite psychiatric care for killing her five young sons with plastic bags. The woman, 32, named as Steffi K., was found guilty of killing the boys, aged between 3 and 9, in Schleswig-Holstein. (Reuters)

Junta appointment

Nouakchott The new junta in the northwest African state of Mauritania announced a former ambassador to Belgium and the EU as Prime Minister. Moulaye Ould Mohamed Laghdaf was named in a decree published by state media. (Reuters)

Landless land grab

Asunción A Paraguayan farmers group has said that landless protesters have invaded a northern hacienda, setting up tents and destroying 150 acres of sunflower crops to press their demands for land in the San Pedro region. (AP)

Volcano threat

Santiago The Chaitén volcano in southern Chile has resumed strong activity, spewing a column of smoke four miles (6km) into the air. An eruption in May forced the evacuation of Chaitén town, to which thousands of residents have yet to return. (AP)

Two arrested over pro-Tibet protest

Beijing Two foreign activists were arrested in Beijing this morning after climbing China’s state-owned television headquarters near the main Olympic venue and erecting a big “Free Tibet” banner. The protesters, one Briton and one Australian, were led away by police and are expected to be deported from China. Witnesses said that about six people were involved in the demonstration.

Last week Iain Thom, 24, and Lucy Fairbrother, 23, were arrested and deported after climbing a mast and unfurling a “Free Tibet” banner within sight of the city’s Bird’s Nest stadium. An ITN journalist was manhandled this week after witnessing a similar protest. (AP)

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£3,000 wrong turn

Oslo A Spanish couple spent £3,000 on taxi rides in Norway after mispronouncing the destination. The couple wanted to visit Olden but were taken to Halden, 350 miles away. They tipped the driver and took a taxi to Olden the next day. (AFP)

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