World in brief: Second man held in prostitute deaths
Police pursuing the killer of five prostitutes arrested a second suspect Tuesday and seized a dark blue Ford that a neighbor in Ipswich’s red-light district said the 48-year-old man had repeatedly cleaned.
A one-time auxiliary police constable arrested Monday in a village outside Ipswich remains in custody. A court gave police permission to hold the 37-year-old supermarket clerk and part-time taxi driver for an additional 36 hours while officers scoured his backyard on hands and knees for possible clues.
Detective Chief Superintendent Stewart Gull said both men were suspects in the murders of Tania Nicol, Anneli Alderton, Paula Clennell, Gemma Adams and Annette Nicholls. Their naked bodies were found dumped in rural areas of eastern England around Ipswich, 70 miles northeast of London, over a 10-day period beginning Dec. 2.
Cairo, Egypt
U.N. evacuates aid workers at camp
The United Nations evacuated 71 aid workers from the largest refugee camp in Darfur on Tuesday after gunmen looted their compounds, leaving some 130,000 refugees virtually without humanitarian help.
It was the largest single instance of an aid worker evacuation since the U.N. launched its large-scale humanitarian campaign in Darfur in 2004. Over the past year, worsening violence in the war-ravaged region in western Sudan has made delivering vital aid to hundreds of thousands of residents difficult to impossible.
More than 20 gunmen raided several humanitarian compounds in the South Darfur refugee camp of Gereida late Monday, harassing staff and stealing vehicles, communication equipment and money, the U.N. Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a statement.
Jakarta, Indonesia
10 die in stampede at pop concert
A stampede at a pop concert in central Indonesia killed 10 people and injured scores of others, most of them teenagers, police said Wednesday.
The crush began as the audience of thousands was leaving the performance of Ungu, a popular Indonesian band, at a sports stadium in the town of Pekalongan, Central Java province, late Tuesday, said Sgt. Slamet, who goes by just one name.
“People were very rough and began pushing,” he told the Associated Press. “The victims were trampled to death.”
United Nations
Annan urges talks on Iran enrichment
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Tuesday a negotiated settlement with Iran over its nuclear program should be sought, and he warned that military intervention would be “unwise and disastrous.”
Annan, who steps down as U.N. chief Dec. 31, issued the warning as the Security Council debated a resolution that would impose sanctions on Tehran for refusing to suspend uranium enrichment. The United States is considering sending a second aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf as a show of force against Iran.
Annan addressed concerns about a possible military operation in Iran at a farewell news conference.