A Georgian district governor and a villager were killed in explosions yesterday near Georgia's breakaway Abkhazia region after police reported mortar fire in the de facto border zone.
It was the latest in a series of security incidents in the area since Russian forces pulled back to within the rebel region early this month, following a five-day war with Georgia in August.
An Interior Ministry spokesman said the governor of Tsalenjikha region had been investigating reports of mortar rounds being fired from Abkhaz territory when what appeared to be landmines exploded followed by incoming fire.
The governor died at the scene while a Georgian villager caught in the blasts died later in hospital. Two police officers were also wounded.
Kidnapped in Afghanistan
Two Turkish engineers have been kidnapped in southeastern Afghanistan, Afghan and Turkish officials said yesterday.
Taliban insurgents as well as criminals and armed bands have kidnapped dozens of foreigners in Afghanistan in the last two years. Most have been freed unharmed, but a few have been killed.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan, on a visit to the Afghan capital, said he had brought up the subject of the two missing engineers in a meeting with his Afghan counterpart Rangeen Dadfar Spanta.
Vaccine could cut cervical cancer
An aggressive strategy of vaccinating older women against cervical cancer could deliver a crippling blow against the disease, cutting rates for that type of cancer in half for women through age 45, US researchers said yesterday.
Using a mathematical model, they showed that vaccinating women in the United States by ages 12 through 45 against the cancer-causing human papillomavirus, or HPV, could reduce cases of cervical cancer by 85 per cent for 12-year-olds and up to 55 per cent for 45-year-old women.
Bavaria's CSU to confront Berlin
The new head of Bavaria's CSU vowed yesterday to take a more confrontational approach towards the government in Berlin, steering a course likely to weaken Chancellor Angela Merkel, a fellow Conservative.
At a party conference, members of the Christian Social Union, Bavarian sister party of Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU), approved the appointment of Horst Seehofer as leader, hoping for a fresh start after the party lost its absolute majority in last month's state election.
The vote result was the party's worst in decades and led to the resignations of CSU leader Erwin Huber and state premier Guenther Beckstein.
Pirates hijack Nigeria oil ship
Pirates in Nigeria attacked at least two oil vessels in the offshore waters of the Niger Delta yesterday, briefly seizing a group of oil workers including seven French citizens, security sources said.
Gunmen hijacked the vessel Bourbon Ajax in the oil-producing delta, also taking 10 Nigerians on board hostage, two private security sources said.
The boat and the captives were released a short time later. One security source said the boat was contracted by Canada's Addax Petroleum.
A French embassy spokesman in Nigeria confirmed that the French workers were safe. A Nigerian military spokesman had no immediate comment.
Blasts hit two train stations
A bomb ripped through a train station in Spain's Basque Country early yesterday and hours later another station was hit by molotov cocktails but no one was hurt in either incident, a police spokesman said.
The bomb exploded at about 12.30 a.m. in the town of Berriz, causing considerable damage, a spokesman for Basque police said.
About two hours later two molotov cocktails hit another train station in Amorebieta. There was no immediate claim of responsibility but Basque separatist rebels ETA have regularly planted bombs in their four decades of armed struggle for the region's independence, during which they have killed more than 800 people.
Czech PM ponders future
Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek was considering quitting as his right-wing party's chief yesterday after he suffered a big defeat from the leftist opposition just ahead of taking over the EU presidency.
Topolanek's Civic Democrats (ODS) won just three seats in an upper house election yesterday, final results showed, a result that angered Topolanek's party rivals and even raised doubts about the cabinet's future.
The leftist opposition Social Democrats took 23 seats, prompting them to call on the government to resign and hold an election in mid-2009, ahead of regular polls due in 2010.
Danish police arrest 43
Danish police arrested at least 43 people and used tear gas in clashes with hundreds of protesters outside a compound for asylum-seekers yesterday. Activists said the aim of yesterday's demonstration was to protest against a restrictive Danish asylum system and try to close the Sandholm refugee centre.
A spokesman for the North Zealand police said that at least 43 protesters had been arrested, but that several had been released by yesterday evening.
Organisers said about 1,500 people took part in the demonstration. It started peacefully but turned into a battle with police when protesters tried to cut through the fence.