World Briefs

A woman holds up a placard as she takes part in a so-called ‘Slutwalk’ against sexual violence in Berlin yesterday. Participants were protesting against explaining or excusing rape by referring to any aspect of a woman’s appearance. The rallies, now taking place all over the world, began when a Toronto police officer, suggested that to remain safe, “women should avoid dressing like sluts”.

Policemen shot dead

Two police officers have been killed by gunmen who attacked them during Friday prayers at a mosque, authorities in Russia’s violence-plagued republic of Dagestan said. A fire chief was killed in a separate shooting.

Dagestan regularly sees attacks connected both to criminal gangs and to Islamic insurgents. There was no immediate word on possible motivates for either of the latest shootings.

Interior Ministry spokesman Vyacheslav Gasanov said the policemen were killed at a mosque in Khasavyurt, near the border with Chechnya. He said the attackers drove up to the mosque as worshippers were leaving after prayers and opened fire.

The local fire chief died from shots fired at his vehicle from a moving car in the nearby village of Kurush. (PA)

Food distribution increased in Somalia

The World Food Programme is expanding its food distribution efforts in famine-ravaged Somalia, where the UN has estimated that only 20 per cent of people needing aid are able to receive it because an Al-Qaeda-linked group controls large portions of the country.

Al-Shabab militants withdrew from most areas of the capital last week, a move which will significantly improve aid relief efforts, said Stanlake Samkange, the WFP regional director in East and Central Africa.

The militants’ presence in Mogadishu had complicated international aid groups’ efforts to feed the tens of thousands who had sought help in the capital. (PA)

Israeli mines plan

An Israeli army magazine said the military is planting new land mines along the border with Syria to dissuade protesters from rushing into the Golan Heights.

The army decided to go ahead with the move after older mines failed to detonate when Syrian demonstrators rushed into the border area last June during a protest against Israel’s occupation.

Israeli forces opened fire, killing some 20 protesters in efforts to push the crowd back. (PA)

Rapper rapped

Rapper The Game incited a telephone flash mob which overwhelmed the Los Angeles County sheriff’s department’s emergency phone system.

Sheriff’s Captain Mike Parker told the Los Angeles Times that the rapper tweeted the number of the sheriff’s Compton station and told his 580,000 followers that if they wanted an internship with him, they should call the number. Sheriff’s Lieutenant Suzan Young said “the phones started ringing like crazy”, and the lines were jammed for more than two hours.

The Game later posted that his account was hacked but also tweeted that it was “an accident”. His actions are being documented in a criminal complaint to the district attorney’s office and he could face criminal charges. (PA)

Volcano high alert

Indonesian officials have warned people to stay more than 2km away from two craters on a volcano which are spewing noxious gas.

Government volcanologist Su-rono said visitors and villagers have been told to stay away from the yellow craters on the 2,665-metre Mount Papandayan. The craters are tourist attractions but are now emitting dangerous hydrogen sulphide and carbon monoxide gases. The volcano’s alert has been raised to the second-highest level.

Papandayan in West Java province is one of Indonesia’s most popular peaks to climb. It last erupted in 2002. Indonesia lies along the Pacific ‘Ring of Fire’, an arc of volcanos and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin. (PA)

Five Iraqis killed

Five Iraqis have been killed and 14 others injured in bombings and shootings in the capital, Baghdad, and a western town yesterday, including an attack near cafes and ice cream shops.

A roadside bomb hit a joint Iraqi police-army patrol as it parked near a drinking water plant in the town of al-Baghdadi today. The blast killed a soldier and a policeman and wounded another soldier, he said.

Also yesterday, gunmen in a spee-ding car shot and killed a Shiite cleric as he left an Electricity Ministry office in the New Baghdad district of the capital, a police officer said. (PA)