Police in southern Russia said security forces yesterday killed the man suspected of organising the Moscow underground bombings in March that killed 40 people and wounded more than 100.
A police spokesman in the Dagestan province said Madomedali Vagabov (right) was killed along with four others during an exchange of fire with special forces. Spokesman Vyacheslav Gadhzhiyev said the house the suspects were holed up in caught fire during the shootout.
The National Antiterrorism Committee said in a statement that Vagabov was effectively second in command in the separatist insurgency in Russia’s North Caucasus region. The head, Doku Umarov, claimed responsibility for the attacks, carried out by two female suicide bombers. (PA)
Astronauts in space as weak as 80-year-olds
A new study says astronauts can become as weak as 80-year-olds after six months at the International Space Station.
The finding raise serious health concerns as Nasa contemplates prolonged trips to asteroids and Mars.
Marquette University biologist Robert Fitts, who led the study, stresses that the accelerated space ageing is temporary: astronauts’ muscles recover after a few months back on Earth.
But Prof. Fitts said he would be concerned if a crew needed to make an emergency landing on Earth and rush from a burning spacecraft or if after arriving at Mars, an urgent spacewalk was needed for repairs. (PA)
Patients jailed
A Kenyan court has sentenced two tuberculosis patients who skipped their medications to spend eight months in prison to avoid spreading the deadly disease among the public, a senior health official in the Nairobi said yesterday.
The male patients were locked up in Kapsabet prison in western Kenya nearly 10 days ago to make sure they take their pills as prescribed and do not infect others, said Joseph Sitienei, the head of tuberculosis and lung diseases at the public health and sanitation ministry.
Mr Sitienei said the judge who sentenced the pair invoked a rarely utilised law that allows the government to jail patients with infectious diseases to safeguard the public health. (PA)
Whale rescue
Rescuers refloated 11 beached pilot whales yesterday after a mass stranding on an isola-ted northern New Zealand beach in which 47 of the mammals died. Some of the survivors still appeared to be in trouble.
All 11 survivors initially headed out to sea and were being monitored to ensure they did not return to the beach, said Carolyn Smith, a spokeswoman for the Department of Conservation.
But within an hour, four of the survivors were in trouble. The 58 pilot whales that beached on Thursday night on remote, storm-tossed Karikari Beach were stranded for up to 12 hours before they were discovered – the reason so many died, Ms Smith said. (PA)
Gypsy crackdown
Italy’s interior minister has praised France’s controversial crackdown on gypsies, saying President Nicolas Sarkozy is “right”.
Roberto Maroni said Italy has been using the method of voluntary and assisted repatriation for years and that France is “copying Italy”. France expelled about 200 gypsies, or Roma people, last week.
In an interview with Corriere della Sera published yesterday, Mr Maroni said he would like to be able to expel all EU citizens who do not meet minimum requirements such as income and housing. (PA)
Policemen killed
A government official says six Afghan policemen have been found dead in their station in southern Afghanistan where international troops are ramping up operations to take control of Taliban strongholds.
The bodies of the victims, who were shot, were found in Greskh district of Helmand province, said a spokesman for the province Dawood Ahmadi yesterday. It was not immediately clear who shot them, but insurgents fighting back against Nato forces in the south are targeting anyone who supports the coalition or the Afghan government.
The coalition reported that two US service members died yesterday and another was killed last Friday in insurgent attacks in the south. Meanwhile a British serviceman was killed yesterday in Nad Ali district of Helmand, the Ministry of Defence said. (PA)