Foreign news in brief 28/02/2012

Missing soldier’s body handed over

A PROMINENT Iraqi MP has said a Shiite extremist group handed over the remains of the last US soldier missing in Iraq to authorities last week.

Sami al-Askari’s comments are the first confirmation that Staff Sergeant Ahmed al-Taie was killed by the insurgent group Asaib Ahl al-Haq after he disappeared in 2006. The Pentagon did not comment.

First quadruple limb transplant fails

A TURKISH hospital has announced that the world’s first quadruple limb transplant has failed. Hacettepe University said doctors had to remove two arms and two legs that were transplanted on Sevket Cavdar, 27, because of tissue incompatibility.

He had lost his limbs in 1998 when he was electrocuted.

Nazi hunter runs for presidency

A GERMAN opposition party has nominated Nazi hunter Beate Klarsfeld as a long-shot candidate for the German presidency.

The Left Party yesterday nominated Ms Klarsfeld, 73, the German-born wife of France’s best-known Nazi hunter, Serge Klarsfeld, to challenge Joachim Gauck in the 18 March vote.

Sarkozy’s ex–wife certain he can win

Cecilia Attias left Nicolas Sarkozy after his 2007 win

The ex-wife of French president Nicolas Sarkozy, Cecilia Attias, has said she was confident the conservative could win his re-election bid but stopped short of saying she would vote for the man she left weeks after his 2007 victory.

“I am watching, I’m observing,” Attias said in a TV interview. Asked whether Mr Sarkozy could win the April-May election, she said: “Of course.”

Grudging backing for Greek bailout

German Chancellor Angela Merkel scraped through a parliamentary vote endorsing a second bailout for Greece yesterday.

But she faced a growing revolt against pouring in more money in support of the eurozone, with 17 coalition rebels voting “No”.