World In Brief

US slams Syria over UN nuclear probe

SYRIA: A US envoy has rebuked Syria for not co-operating with a UN probe of its nuclear programme because of the civil war.

Robert Wood also accused Damascus of cleaning up sites where the International Atomic Energy Agency suspects secret nuclear work might have taken place.

Mr Wood told the IAEA board it is unacceptable that the Syrian regime was using its brutal repression of the Syrian people as an excuse.

Police arrest two al-Qaida suspects

KENYA: Police have arrested two people suspected to have links with an al-Qaida-linked Somali militant group planning a major terrorist attack.

Kenya’s Anti-Terrorism Police Unit said today that police found four suicide vests, a cache of weapons and 12 grenades.

Kenya has suffered grenade attacks that have killed more than 50 people attributed to sympathisers of the al-Shabab group.

New asylum camp opened on Nauru

AUSTRALIA: Officials say they have transported 30 asylum-seekers to a newly opened detention camp on the Pacific atoll of Nauru.

It is the first group of asylum-seekers to be detained in Nauru under Australia’s new offshore processing policy.

The Sri Lankan men were flown to Nauru today from a detention facility on Australia’s Christmas Island.

Soldiers kill 75 Kurdish rebels

TURKEY: Officials say security forces have killed 75 Kurdish rebels in week-long clashes in the south-east of the country.

The governor’s office for Hakkari province said the clashes in the town of Sendinli, near the border with Iraq, also claimed the lives of four soldiers.

The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people since 1984.

Bank settles on disabled’s claims

US: Bank of America agreed today to settle allegations by the government that it discriminated against mortgage loan applicants with disabilities by asking them to provide medical information from a doctor.

The bank says it will pay $1,000 (£616), $2,500 (£1,540) or $5,000 (£3,080) to eligible mortgage loan applicants who were asked to provide a letter from their doctor documenting their disability benefits.

Two arrested over anarchist shooting

ITALY: Polices have arrested two suspects in the May shooting of nuclear engineering firm Ansaldo boss Roberto Adinolfi.

They were arrested today in Piemonte and face charges of carrying out a terrorist attack.

An anti-nucleaar anarchist group called Informal Anarchist Federation, which previously targeted Italy’s tax collection agency, later claimed responsibility.

Ebola outbreak kills 31 people

CONGO: A deadly outbreak of the ebola virus has killed 31 people in northeastern Congo, more than doubling the death toll from a week ago, the UN health agency said today.

There have been 69 cases in all, the World Health Organisation confirmed.

The ebola virus has no cure and is deadly in 40 per cent to 90 per cent of cases.

Border clashes see gunfire

TAJIKISTAN: The border service says frontier troops from neighbouring Uzbekistan crossed into its territory this week, prompting an exchange of gunfire.

An Uzbek soldier on horseback was spotted on Tajik soil filming footage on a mobile phone and an attempt to detain the soldier elicited a volley of gunshots from Uzbek troops.