World Briefs

04-11-2009 |

Panama Star KHOST, AFGHANISTAN – THE U. S. military has conceded that a raid this week by troops under its command in Afghanistan killed a group of civilians who were defending their home, not militants as it had earlier reported.

The killing of civilians by foreign forces is the biggest source of tension between the Afghan government and its Western backers. While NATO has tightened its procedures, the latest incident shows the problem is far from solved.

ATHENS, Greece – Police have said the teenage gunman who wounded three people at a college in Greece and killed himself had warned of the attack hours earlier on an Internet posting.

A note on a popular social networking site says he felt "nothing but rejection and contempt" for those around him. The posting included photographs of him posing with weapons.

He shot himself in the head and died after opening fire at the vocational training college in western Athens on Friday and died in hospital several hours later.

MEXICO CITY – Mexico City turned off the tap to millions of residents on Thursday and Friday because water reserves have reached historic lows.

The shutdown of a main pipeline affected at least 5 million of the 20 million people in the Mexico City valley. 50 percent of services will be restored today.

This is the third time this year the metropolis has temporarily turned off the tap to conserve water due to an unusually dry rainy season last year.

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – Dozens of people pulled down metal poles and pummeled concrete blocks with sledgehammers to destroy a wall being built to separate an impoverished neighborhood from a well-heeled district on the outskirts of the capital.

Mayor Gustavo Posse of wealthy San Isidro said he pushed for the construction of the 5,250-foot -long, 10-foot-high wall to keep thieves from crossing a major avenue separating the two neighborhoods. But a court ruled to halt construction of what local media call the "Wall of Discord" after claims it was discriminatory.

NAIROBI, Kenya – The American captain held hostage by four Somali pirates made a desperate escape attempt Friday but was recaptured, and officials said other pirates sought to reinforce their colleagues by sailing hijacked ships with other captives aboard to the scene of the standoff.

A Somali in contact with a pirate leader said the captors want a ransom and are ready to kill the hostage, Capt. Richard Phillips, if attacked.