Wikinews Shorts: November 29, 2008
A compilation of brief news reports for Saturday, November 29, 2008.
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Ethiopian troops will leave Somalia
A foreign ministry spokesperson has announced that all Ethiopian troops will withdraw from Somalia by the end of this year.
Two years ago, Ethiopia sent out thousands of soldiers to Somalia in an effort to help the government oust Islamists from the Somali capital of Mogadishu.
Under the deal, African Union troops will replace Ethiopian troops withdrawing from the cities of Mogadishu and Beledweyne, while the Somali government and ARS will create a police force 10,000-strong.
Sources
- "Ethiopian troops to leave Somalia" — BBC News Online, November 29, 2008
- "Somali government, Islamists agree on Ethiopian pullout" — Agence France-Presse, November 29, 2008
Poll results spark riots in Nigerian city
According to aid workers, at least twenty people, including a policeman, have been killed in riots in the Nigerian city of Jos after local elections. Muslim opposition supporters started rioting when they heard that their candidate to head the council had been defeated.
A dusk-to-dawn curfew has been imposed by the authorities, and soldiers have been deployed to the streets when rival gangs started burning churches and mosques.
According to the Red Cross, no less than twenty people have been killed and about 300 wounded as a result of the unrest, and at least ten thousand more have been forced from their homes. About 100 homes have been burnt.
Sources
- "Poll riots erupt in Nigerian city" — BBC News Online, November 29, 2008
- "Clashes kill at least 20 in Nigerian city of Jos" — Bester News, November 29, 2008
- "Riots kill 'hundreds' in Nigeria" — BBC News Online, November 29, 2008
Suicide bomber in Iraqi mosque kills 12
A suicide bomber blew himself up in an Iraqi mosque on Friday, killing twelve people and injuring a further sixteen. The attack happened at a Shiite mosque in the Musayyib district in Babil, located 100 kilometres south of Iraq's capital Baghdad.
This comes a day after the Iraqi parliament approved a deal with the United States to start withdrawing US troops from the country. Under the timetable, soldiers will start leaving Iraqi streets in June of 2009 and leave the country completely by the end of 2011.
Sources
- "Suicide bombing at Iraqi mosque" — BBC News Online, November 29, 2008
- "Suicide bombing at mosque in Iraq kills 12, injures 16" — The Earth Times, November 29, 2008
British trainee police arrested for suspected drugs offences
Image: Sancho.
(Image missing from Commons: image; log)
Two British trainee police officers have been arrested for suspected possession of Class A drugs.
One of the two women involved were arrested after being taken to hospital at the start of this month, while the other was arrested on charges of possession with intention to supply. Both have been released on bail.
Before their arrest, the women were training in Hendon, London, in a centre run by the Metropolitan Police.
Sources
- "Trainee police officers arrested" — BBC News Online, November 29, 2008
- "Women police trainees in drug probe" — Hasting Observer, November 29, 2008
