PERSIAN GULF

VIOLENCE ON THE RISE AROUND IRAQ AFTER POST-ELECTION LULL

BAGHDAD, Iraq – Violence increased across Iraq after a lull following the December 15 parliamentary elections, with at least two dozen people including an American soldier killed yesterday in shootings and bombings mostly targeting the Shiite-dominated security services. The Defense Ministry director of operations, Brigadier General Abdul Aziz Mohammed-Jassim, blamed increased violence in the past two days on insurgents trying to deepen the political turmoil following the elections.

The violence came as Iraqi opposition groups threatened another wave of protests and civil disobedience if allegations of fraud are not investigated properly. The three blocs include the secular Iraqi National List, headed by a former Shiite prime minister, Ayad Allawi, and two Sunni groups.

– Associated Press

EASTERN EUROPE

RUSSIA GAS ATTACK SICKENS SCORES

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia – A gas attack in a home-supply store on one of the busiest shopping days of the year sickened scores of people yesterday in an incident that police called likely motivated by a commercial dispute or blackmail attempt. Seventy-eight people sought medical care and 66 were hospitalized briefly and sent home without any lasting ill effects, officials said.

Officials with the Maksidom home-supply chain, which sells furnishings and other domestic articles, said they had received threats that sales would be disrupted around New Year’s, when Russians traditionally give gifts. Business-related violence remains a feature of the cut-throat capitalism that enveloped Russia following the collapse of the Soviet Union.

– Associated Press

CENTRAL AFRICA

U.N. JOINS ATTACKS ON CONGO MILITIA

NAIROBI, Kenya – Rebels clashed yesterday with government forces, backed by U.N. peacekeepers – the eighth day of violence in the eastern Congo. As the authorities battled to keep order a week after a key referendum on the country’s future, more than 3,500 soldiers, supported by 600 U.N. personnel and helicopter gunships, launched attacks on insurgents running a low-level guerrilla campaign from the region’s forested hillsides.

One blue beret peacekeeper, an Indian, was killed and four of his colleagues wounded when their camp was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade, near the city of Beni in Nord-Kivu province, where fighting was fiercest at the weekend. A further 16 government troops and an estimated 35 rebels, from a Ugandan group operating in Congo, also have been killed.

– The Daily Telegraph

WESTERN EUROPE

MAYOR: TERRORISTS TRIED TO ATTACK LONDON EIGHT TIMES SINCE 9/11

LONDON – Terrorists tried to attack London eight times between the September 11 attacks in America and last July 7, when suicide bombers killed dozens on the city’s transport system, London’s mayor said yesterday. Ken Livingstone said there had been two attempted attacks since July 7, including a failed attack on the transport network on July 21. Mr. Livingstone did not provide details of the attempted attacks, but said those who threaten London comprise small groups of disaffected people who are fairly disorganized.

– Associated Press

SCHWARZENEGGER’S NAME REMOVED FROM SOCCER STADIUM

VIENNA, Austria – Officials in Governor Schwarzenegger’s hometown quietly removed his name from a soccer stadium overnight, complying with the California governor’s demand in a bitter dispute over his death penalty stance. By early yesterday, the large metal letters spelling out the action star-turned-politician’s name were gone from the 15,300-seat stadium in the southern city of Graz.

Mr. Schwarzenegger had written to the mayor of Graz a week ago asking that his name be removed after local activists called for the stadium to be renamed because of Mr. Schwarzenegger’s refusal to block the December 13 execution of Stanley Tookie Williams.

– Associated Press

NORTH AMERICA

GUNFIRE ERUPTS NEAR TORONTO MALL; ONE DEAD AND SIX WOUNDED

TORONTO – Gunfire erupted on a Toronto street filled with shoppers yesterday, killing a young woman and wounding six other people, police said. The six wounded were hospitalized, including an off-duty police officer who was hit in the leg. Two suspects were arrested shortly after 5:30 p.m. yesterday near the Eaton Center shopping mall. Police said they were investigating if the violence was gang related. They did not immediately disclose if the two people arrested were suspected of opening fire.

– Associated Press