World news in brief

SYRIA: The leader of a Palestinian group based in Damascus has been injured by a car bomb that killed more than 30 people.

Nayef Hawatmeh, head of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, suffered wounds to his hands and face when he was hit by flying glass.

Mr Hawatmeh was briefly in hospital following the explosion.

He formed the Marxist DFLP in 1969, one of the major factions within the Palestine Liberation Organisation.

Double explosion leaves 11 dead

INDIA: At least 11 people were killed and 50 injured today in a pair of explosions in a crowded area of the city of Hyderabad.

Federal Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said that the bombs were attached to two bicycles about 500 feet apart in Dilsukh Nagar, a residential and commercial district.

He said eight people died in one explosion and three in the other.

French bank set for conditional bail-out

EU: The European Union has approved state guarantees worth €18 billion for an ailing French bank on the condition that Paris presents a plan to either restructure or close it within the next six months.

The EU Commission's anti-trust regulator said the guarantee for Credit Immobilier de France was necessary to avoid major disruption in the French banking system.

Taliban official issues warning

AFGHANISTAN: A Taliban spokesman said today that the group will keep targeting government employees and other Afghans with links to the US-led coalition despite a warning from the United Nations that such killings may violate international law.

Zabiullah Mujahid said the Taliban does not consider its targets to be civilians.

Seven killed in mosque shooting

KENYA: Garissa county commissioner Maalim Mohammed said today that gunmen had opened fire at a mosque in Kenya's east, killing seven people.

The commissioner said that about eight gunmen armed with AK-47 rifles had shot at a mosque in the village of Malele near the Kenyan-Somali border.

Al-Qaida-linked militants from Somalia-based al-Shabab have vowed to carry out attacks on Kenyan soil.

Pair jailed for leaking secrets

NETHERLANDS: A Dutch appeals court convicted two former intelligence staff today of leaking state secrets.

The General Intelligence and Security Service staffers were sentenced to 16 months and 8 months respectively.

Prosecutors had appealed after the two were acquitted by a lower court, which ruled that evidence against them was illegally gathered when the spy agency tapped the phone of the reporter.

Checkpoint gun battle kills four

IRAQ: Gunmen attacked an army checkpoint north of Baghdad today, killing four soldiers and wounding four others.

Police officials say gunmen in two cars sprayed the checkpoint with bullets early in the town of in Duluiayah.

The officials say the checkpoint commander was among the wounded. A medic in a nearby hospital confirmed the casualties.

Boy calls cops over bedtime dispute

US: Police in Brockton, Massachusetts said today that a 10-year-old boy called police because he didn't want to go to bed.

The boy called just after 8pm on Wednesday and told the dispatcher he was shopping his mother because he did not want to go to sleep.

Spaniards protest against austerity

SPAIN: Angry Spaniards protest against government austerity measures and corruption during a demonstration to demand jobs for the unemployed in front of the regional parliament in Pamplona today.