Asylum claim in fraud case
Santiago: Lucia Pinochet Hiriart, the eldest daughter of Augusto Pinochet, the former Chilean dictator, has sought asylum in the US after fleeing tax evasion charges. Señora Pinochet Hiriart, 64, was held at Dulles Airport, Washington. The US authorities said that they would refuse her entry. Four of General Pinochet’s children and their mother are accused of tax fraud linked to secret US bank accounts. (AFP)
Blame for bombs
Tehran: Iran has blamed Britain and the US for two bombings that killed at least nine people in the southwestern city of Ahvaz. “Traces of the occupiers of Iraq are evident in the Ahvaz events,” President Ahmadinejad said. (AP)
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Neo-Nazi teacher
Vienna: An Islamic teacher was suspended after authorities found out that he had been jailed for neo-Nazi activities before he became a Muslim and took a new name. The unidentified man was teaching the religion at a school in Freistadt, Upper Austria. (AFP)
Nursery shooting
Germantown: The father of an eight-year-old boy who accidentally shot a seven-year-old girl in the arm with a revolver at a daycare centre in Maryland was arrested on firearms charges. John Linwood Hall Sr, 56, and his son were in custody. (AP)
Tigers to talk
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Colombo: The Tamil Tiger rebels have agreed to resume stalled peace talks with the Sri Lankan Government in Geneva next month. A government spokesman said that prospects of a return to full-scale war had now subsided. (AFP)
Charges dropped
Port-of-Spain, Trinidad: Prosecutors dropped weapons charges against an Islamic cleric who still faces charges of terrorism and sedition. Yasin Abu Bakr called for war against rich Muslims who refused to pay “zakaat”, a tithe for the poor. (AP)