Missile kills 10 in NW Pakistan

BANNU – A missile strike on a house in Pakistan’s North Waziristan region on the Afghan border killed 10 suspected militants, four of them foreigners, security officials said yesterday.

Bomb blast at police station * THENIA – A car bomb exploded outside a police station in northern Algeria yesterday, killing at least two people and wounding several others, the Interior Ministry said. Witnesses and security officials put the death toll at least three.Female bomber strikes checkpoint * BAGHDAD – A female suicide bomber detonated an explosives belt hidden under her all-encompassing black robe at a checkpoint yesterday in Baghdad, killing at least two women and wounding five, police said.Robbers take Venezuelan hostages * ALTAGRACIA DE ORITUCO – Armed robbers held more than 30 hostages at a bank in central Venezuela in a standoff with hundreds of police that stretched into a second day yesterday with little sign of a breakthrough, officials said.Japan and US erect defence shield * MISAWA AIR BASE – Japan and the US are erecting the world’s most complex missile defence shield, an experiment that changes Asia’s security balance and that Washington hopes will serve as a model for Europe.France says SocGen in crisis * PARIS – France’s economy minister said Societe Generale, reeling from losses blamed on a rogue trader, is a bank in crisis and may need to ditch its chairman.”Societe Generale is in a crisis situation,” Economy Minister Christine Lagarde told LCI television yesterday.Brazil shops for nuclear sub * SAO PAULO – Brazil is seeking to buy military technology from France that could help it become the first country in Latin America to have a nuclear submarine.Witnesses and security officials put the death toll at least three.Female bomber strikes checkpoint * BAGHDAD – A female suicide bomber detonated an explosives belt hidden under her all-encompassing black robe at a checkpoint yesterday in Baghdad, killing at least two women and wounding five, police said.Robbers take Venezuelan hostages * ALTAGRACIA DE ORITUCO – Armed robbers held more than 30 hostages at a bank in central Venezuela in a standoff with hundreds of police that stretched into a second day yesterday with little sign of a breakthrough, officials said.Japan and US erect defence shield * MISAWA AIR BASE – Japan and the US are erecting the world’s most complex missile defence shield, an experiment that changes Asia’s security balance and that Washington hopes will serve as a model for Europe.France says SocGen in crisis * PARIS – France’s economy minister said Societe Generale, reeling from losses blamed on a rogue trader, is a bank in crisis and may need to ditch its chairman.”Societe Generale is in a crisis situation,” Economy Minister Christine Lagarde told LCI television yesterday.Brazil shops for nuclear sub * SAO PAULO – Brazil is seeking to buy military technology from France that could help it become the first country in Latin America to have a nuclear submarine.