World Highlights
¤ After violence and killings in earlier rounds, the final phase of Pakistan's local elections passed off largely peacefully yesterday as thousands of newly elected councillors voted for powerful district chiefs. Some unofficial results were expected...
¤ After violence and killings in earlier rounds, the final phase of Pakistan's local elections passed off largely peacefully yesterday as thousands of newly elected councillors voted for powerful district chiefs. Some unofficial results were expected within hours of the close of polls, and most should be known by Saturday. While political parties were barred from contesting, candidates did little to hide their loyalties and victory for the ruling Pakistan Muslim League and its allies is widely anticipated after the government parties' strong showing during the two rounds in August.
¤ Israel's army must stop using Palestinian civilians as "human shields" in operations against suspected Palestinian militants, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled yesterday. Palestinian and Israeli human-rights watchdog groups had sought the ruling. The court's decision that the practice is illegal under international law hardened a temporary injunction issued in 2002. "The army has no right to use civilians as human shields... It is cruel and barbaric," Supreme Court Justice Aharon Barak wrote in a 20-page judgment.
¤ A suspected robber died while being chased by police from a ram-raid robbery at jewellers Tiffany in central London yesterday, British police said. The man was being pursued by an unmarked police car after a daring attempted break-in at 1.35 a.m. when he and his accomplices tried to drive a 4x4 into one of the shop's windows.
¤ Moroccan troops, attempting to prevent illegal immigrants reaching a Spanish enclave, killed six Africans in clashes in northern Morocco on Wednesday night, a local government official said yesterday. "The assault of rare violence has forced security forces to respond in self-defence. Some 290 migrants were arrested and six among the assailants were dead," Nador province governor Abdellah Bendhiba said in a statement carried by state news agency MAP.
¤ A World War II bomb was discovered near Amsterdam's Schiphol airport overnight, triggering expected severe air traffic disruption at the fourth biggest airline hub in Europe yesterday, Dutch media reported. One of the runways at the airport could not be used, said the ANP news agency. Schiphol is the operational centre for the Dutch arm of the merged Air France and KLM airlines.