In short

Today's other stories in brief

Five killed in Israeli raid in Gaza Strip

GAZA - About 30 Israeli tanks and armoured vehicles pushed into the Hamas-run Gaza Strip yesterday, sparking clashes with Palestinians that killed five militants, medics and militant groups said.

Residents said the raid, a day before Israel and Palestinians are due to hold their first talks since relaunching a US-backed peace push, was the largest in their area since Israel pulled troops and settlers out of the territory in 2005.

Four Islamic Jihad gunmen were killed in clashes with Israeli ground forces and an air strike killed a local commander from the Popular Resistance Committees, a coalition of militant groups, medics and residents said. - (Reuters)

Gadafy denies talk of rights issues

PARIS - Libyan dictator Muammar Gadafy embarrassed his host, French president Nicolas Sarkozy, last night when he told a television interviewer that the French leader had not mentioned human rights to him, writes Lara Marlowe.

For three days, Mr Sarkozy has defended himself for having invited Col Gadafy on an official visit to Paris by claiming that he has repeatedly urged the "Guide" to improve his human rights record.

40 migrants on boat feared dead

DAKAR - About 40 west African migrants were feared dead, many from hunger and thirst, after their boat spent 12 days at sea in a failed bid to reach the Canary Islands, police said yesterday.

The fishing boat set off from the southern Senegalese region of Casamance and ran aground on the outskirts of the capital, Dakar, on Saturday after its captain turned back to save the remaining passengers. - (Reuters)

Denmark to ratify EU reform treaty

COPENHAGEN - Denmark will ratify the European Union reform treaty without a referendum, the government said yesterday, two days before EU leaders sign the charter in Lisbon.

Prime minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen told a news conference Denmark would ratify the treaty in parliament, where a majority supports it.

"The Lisbon treaty does not imply transfer of sovereignty to the European Union. Secondly, [ it] does not contain the constitutional elements from the constitutional treaty," he said. - (Reuters)

Darwin's wife remanded

LONDON - Anne Darwin, wife of the canoeist who "returned from the dead" five years after going missing, appeared in court yesterday charged with two counts of deception.

She was remanded in custody until December 14th at Hartlepool Magistrates Court in northeast England, Cleveland police said.

Ms Darwin (55) was charged with dishonestly obtaining £25,000 by money transfer and dishonestly obtaining £137,000 by money transfer. - (Reuters)

Explosives found in Sinai hideout

ISMAILIA - Egyptian security men found packages containing 500kg (1,100lb) of TNT yesterday in a mountain hideout in north Sinai that were probably meant to be smuggled into the Gaza Strip, security sources said.

They said security men, responding to a tip-off, had found the explosives contained in 12 plastic packages in the hideout, which appeared to have been used many times. No arrests were made. - ( Reuters)

Truckers blockade Italian motorways

ROME - Filling stations in Italy ran dry and factories closed yesterday as truckers blockaded motorways for a second day in a protest over high fuel prices and contracts that threatened to bring the economy to a halt. - ( Reuters )

© 2007 The Irish Times

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times