Sri Lanka bus blast kills 12

COLOMBO – At least a dozen people were killed in a suspected Tamil Tiger bomb attack on a civilian bus in north-east Sri Lanka yesterday, the military said.

Suicide bombers from Gaza Strip * GAZA CITY – The two suicide bombers who attacked the Israeli town of Dimona yesterday entered Israel from Egypt after Gaza militants blew up the Gaza-Egypt border wall, a Palestinian militant said. Air strike kills 7 civilians * HERAT – An air strike targeting a Taliban commander has killed seven civilians from one family in southwestern Afghanistan, provincial officials said yesterday.Sunni’s criticise new law * BAGHDAD – The Sunni bloc in Iraq’s parliament yesterday criticised a new law that will allow thousands of Saddam Hussein-era officials to return to government jobs, with the bloc’s leader predicting the legislation would have a “short life.”Spain frees 10 terror suspects * MADRID – Ten of those on trial in an alleged Islamic terror plot to blow up Spain’s National Court with a truck bomb were ordered freed yesterday, but some will remain jailed in other cases, a court statement said.Saudi beheads 3 drug smugglers * RIYADH – Saudi authorities beheaded three men yesterday – an Iraqi, an Indian and a Pakistani – for smuggling drugs into the kingdom, the official Saudi Press Agency reported.Indonesia’s bird flu claims 103 * JAKARTA – An Indonesian woman has died of bird flu over the weekend, bringing the country’s death toll from the disease to 103, a Health Ministry official said.Berlusconi rejects reform appeal * ROME – Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi yesterday rejected last-ditch appeals for electoral reforms, insisting that only early elections could end the country’s current political crisis.French fall out of love * PARIS – President Nicholas Sarkozy might have just got re-married, but his love affair with the French electorate appears well and truly over.An opinion poll published yesterday said Sarkozy’s popularity rating plunged 13 points in January to 41 per cent.Air strike kills 7 civilians * HERAT – An air strike targeting a Taliban commander has killed seven civilians from one family in southwestern Afghanistan, provincial officials said yesterday.Sunni’s criticise new law * BAGHDAD – The Sunni bloc in Iraq’s parliament yesterday criticised a new law that will allow thousands of Saddam Hussein-era officials to return to government jobs, with the bloc’s leader predicting the legislation would have a “short life.” Spain frees 10 terror suspects * MADRID – Ten of those on trial in an alleged Islamic terror plot to blow up Spain’s National Court with a truck bomb were ordered freed yesterday, but some will remain jailed in other cases, a court statement said.Saudi beheads 3 drug smugglers * RIYADH – Saudi authorities beheaded three men yesterday – an Iraqi, an Indian and a Pakistani – for smuggling drugs into the kingdom, the official Saudi Press Agency reported.Indonesia’s bird flu claims 103 * JAKARTA – An Indonesian woman has died of bird flu over the weekend, bringing the country’s death toll from the disease to 103, a Health Ministry official said.Berlusconi rejects reform appeal * ROME – Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi yesterday rejected last-ditch appeals for electoral reforms, insisting that only early elections could end the country’s current political crisis.French fall out of love * PARIS – President Nicholas Sarkozy might have just got re-married, but his love affair with the French electorate appears well and truly over.An opinion poll published yesterday said Sarkozy’s popularity rating plunged 13 points in January to 41 per cent.