 At least five people have been killed and 23 wounded in two explosions in central Baghdad, Iraqi officials say. The cause of the explosions could not be confirmed, though some reports said the first was a car bomb and the second, very soon afterwards, a mortar. At least one of the attacks happened near a minibus stop, where passengers were waiting to travel to Shia areas of the city, officials said. The blasts sent a column of thick black smoke into the sky, witnesses said. "These people were just sitting here. What did they do to deserve this?" said a man called Hussein, who said he saw a coffee shop wrecked by one blast, leaving tables and chairs shattered and a pool of blood. The attacks came after a US military spokesman warned on Thursday that violence in Iraq might increase over the coming weeks, following a lull around the 15 December election. ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk
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Editor - 10:59:00 12-30-05
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 Russia says gas cut won't hit EU |
Russian energy giant Gazprom has renewed a threat to cut off gas supplies to Ukraine - but says it will not hit deliveries to western Europe. Moscow and Kiev are holding talks over Gazprom's decision to quadruple prices. Ukraine's President Viktor Yushchenko called for the price to be frozen until 10 January while talks continue, but Gazprom reportedly rejected the offer. State-owned Gazprom is threatening to cut off Ukraine's gas at 0700GMT on Sunday if there is no breakthrough. But Gazprom chief executive Alexei Miller said there was a "detailed plan" to ensure that supplies transiting Ukraine to the EU would not be disrupted. EU governments are convening a meeting of their gas industry experts in Brussels on 4 January to coordinate their response. Ukraine at present receives cheap gas from Russia and in return, Russia uses Ukraine's pipeline network to transport most of its gas exports to western Europe. ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4568288.stm
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Editor - 10:53:00 12-30-05
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| Twenty die as Egyptian police end Sudan protest |
Some 2,000 Egyptian riot police stormed a camp of Sudanese refugees on Friday, sparking clashes that left at least 20 Sudanese dead and more than 100 police and others injured, officials and witnesses said. Witnesses said police beat those in the camp with truncheons after officials had failed to persuade them to board buses to move them from an affluent part of Cairo to another site. The Interior Ministry said the Sudanese died in a stampede at the camp, where 3,500 Sudanese live in squalid conditions. It said 75 police officers were injured. Pools of blood were visible on the pavement as men in the camp fought back with sticks and hurled bottles at the police, who fired water cannon to try to disperse them, witnesses said. ...
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1456368
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Editor - 10:50:00 12-30-05
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| China confirms new bird flu death |
China has confirmed its latest bird flu fatality following tests carried out on a factory worker, state media reported. Xinhua news agency said the 41-year-old woman from the southern Fujian province had contracted the lethal H5N1 strain of the virus. It raises to seven the number of human bird flu cases in the country, which include three fatalities. China has so far escaped lightly from the virus which has killed more than 70 people throughout Asia since 2003. Results of the tests on the woman, who died on 21 December, were released by the Chinese Health Ministry. No further details about the circumstances surrounding her death were provided. The country is about halfway through the vaccination of its all domestic poultry - some 14 billion chickens and ducks. ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4567304.stm
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Editor - 10:47:00 12-30-05
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| Refinery Shutdown Causes Gas Lines in Iraq |
Long lines formed at gas stations in Baghdad on Friday as word spread that Iraq's largest oil refinery had shut down in the face of threats against truck drivers, and fears grew of a gas shortage. Also in the capital, a suicide car bomber and a mortar killed six people and injured 23 people in separate attacks Friday, police said. The car bomber blew himself up next to a police patrol in a commercial area, killing three Iraqi civilians, and the mortar landed in a market, killing three Iraqi civilians and injuring 21. The market was closed because of the Friday holiday.An international team, meanwhile, agreed on Thursday to assess Iraq's parliamentary elections, a decision lauded by Sunni Arab and secular Shiite groups who have staged repeated protests around Iraq complaining of widespread fraud and intimidation....
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,180165,00.html
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Editor - 10:43:00 12-30-05
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| Pack of Angry Chihuahuas Attack Police Officer After Escaping Their California Home |
A pack of angry Chihuahuas attacked a police officer who was escorting a teenager home following a traffic stop, authorities said. The officer suffered minor injuries including bites to his ankle on Thursday when the five Chihuahuas escaped the 17-year-old boy's home and rushed the officer in the doorway, said Fremont detective Bill Veteran. The teenager had been detained after the traffic incident, Veteran said. The officer was treated at a local hospital and returned to work less than two hours later, Veteran said. It was the third time this month a Fremont officer was bitten by a dog while on duty. Neither of the other officers were seriously injured. ...
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=1456209
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Editor - 10:41:00 12-30-05
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