Foreign news in brief 14/03/2012

Save the Children faces expulsion

Save the Children is to be expelled from areas of Somalia under the control of Islamist militia group al-Shabaab.

A statement from the al-Shabaab yesterday said Save the Children distributed 4,470 cartons of expired porridge, was corrupt and offered bribes.

Experts say expulsions of aid agencies contributed to a famine in the group’s strongholds from July to January in which thousands died.

Save the Children faces expulsion

Save the Children is to be expelled from areas of Somalia under the control of Islamist militia group al-Shabaab.

A statement from the al-Shabaab yesterday said Save the Children distributed 4,470 cartons of expired porridge, was corrupt and offered bribes.

Experts say expulsions of aid agencies contributed to a famine in the group’s strongholds from July to January in which thousands died.

Right-wing group raided after attacks

German police have arrested 24 men in a crackdown on a far-right organisation believed to have been involved in violence against left-wing activists.

Koblenz prosecutors said the arrests came as authorities raided homes in the states of Rhineland-Palatinate, North Rhine-Westphalia, Thuringia and Baden Wuerttemberg. Thirty-three people are being investigated.

Uproar in Ankara as fire trial collapses

Turkish police fired tear gas to disperse hundreds protesting in Ankara yesterday after a court dropped a case against five people charged in absentia with killing 37 writers in a 1993 hotel fire set by Islamist rioters.

Opposition blamed the ruling AK Party for a failure to launch a serious search.

Philippines court orders bribe arrest

A Philippines court has ordered the husband of former president Gloria Arroyo arrested on charges that he took millions of dollars in bribes.

Jose Arroyo is accused of pushing through a $330 million government contract with a Chinese telecoms company

See Naples village and don’t die ...

The Italian village of Falciano del Massico near Naples has made it illegal to die because it has no cemetery and it is feuding with a nearby town that has one.

Its mayor said: “The law has brought happiness. Unfortunately, two elderly citizens disobeyed.”