Gunmen seized two dozen Shiites from a Muqdadiyah bus station after separating them from the crowd in a predominantly Sunni area Wednesday, killing them and dumping their bodies in a nearby village. At least 21 other violent deaths were reported across the country. Wednesday’s attacks coincided with an unannounced visit to Iraq by U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who said the new Iraqi government is not yet ready to decide on security issues that will determine the pace of U.S. troop reductions this year.
France: Trial in alleged Nazi remark
Far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen has been ordered to stand trial for reportedly denying the brutality of the Nazi occupation of France during World War II, judicial officials in Paris said Wednesday. “In France at least, the German Occupation was not particularly inhuman, even if there were a few blunders, inevitable in a country of 550,000 square kilometers,” Le Pen was quoted as saying in 2005. Le Pen, 77, who is looking to run in next year’s presidential elections, has been convicted of racism or anti-Semitism at least six times.
Philippines: Typhoon kills nine
A powerful Asian storm strengthened to a typhoon today after killing at least nine people in the northern Philippines, officials said. The hardest-hit area was Baguio city, where landslides and flash flooding Wednesday killed three people. Forecasters said Typhoon Bilis was expected to make landfall over Taiwan on Friday morning.
Britain: Cremation by funeral pyre
A Sikh man became the first person to be burned on a funeral pyre in Britain since a law was passed in 1902 against outdoor cremation, police said Wednesday. The body of Rajpal Mehat, 30, was burned in a field in Northumberland, about 450 miles from London. He had been found drowned in London’s River Thames.
From Herald news services
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