Iraq

Gunmen shoot 9 police officers

Militants attacked a police station in northern Iraq on Wednesday with mortar rounds and automatic weapons, killing nine police, while six people died in other violence, security officers and doctors said. The violence comes a day after an al-Qaida front group claimed brazen assaults on two prisons in Iraq that killed more than 40 people and saw hundreds of inmates escape.

United Kingdom

Man charged in 1985 slaying

A man appeared in court on Wednesday charged with the notorious murder of British police officer Keith Blakelock, who was hacked to death by a mob in London in 1985. Nicholas Jacobs was 16 when the policeman was attacked and stabbed dozens of times as he tried to protect firefighters during riots on the Broadwater Farm estate in Tottenham.

Bulgaria

Parliament siege escalates

More than 100 Bulgarian lawmakers, ministers and journalists spent the night besieged inside parliament by anti-corruption protesters before police evacuated them early on Wednesday in the latest instability in the southeast European state. A political crisis that began over utility price rises and spread to accusations that private interests control state institutions has caused months of protests.

Brazil

Tourist dies in shark attack

A young tourist died after being attacked by a shark as she swam off a beach in northeastern Brazil, a hospital official said Tuesday. Bruna Gobbi, an 18-year-old resident of Sao Paulo, was rushed to the Restauracao hospital in Recife after Monday's attack. "She lost a lot of blood" and died of her injuries after her leg was amputated, said a hospital official who asked not to be named.

Mexico

Clashes claim 22 people

Violent clashes between armed gangs and Mexico's security forces killed 22 people on Tuesday, marking a surge in violence in a chaotic western state where President Enrique Pena Nieto is testing a new security strategy. The shootouts occurred after gang members blocked highways with buses and other vehicles in Michoacan, one of Mexico's most violent states.

Syria

Polish journalist taken hostage

A Polish journalist was taken hostage by Islamist militants in northwest Syria on Wednesday, opposition activists said. Marcin Suder was abducted from an opposition media office in the town of Saraqeb in Idlib province, activists from the area told Reuters.

South Africa

Renegade hippo in Cape Town

A roaming hippo that set up home in a Cape Town sewage plant last year has been nabbed and shipped to a game reserve, the city said on Wednesday. The young male had eluded capture after spending a few weeks in a suburban recreational lake, popping up in gardens and on roads, while on the run from its home reserve.

Reuters-AFP

(China Daily 07/25/2013 page12)