It's 15:00 Universal Time and here is the news from the Voice of America.
I'm David Deforest from the VOA news center in Washington.
Police in Iraq have found the bodies of sixteen men who had been tortured and shot. All apparently were victims of sectarian dead squad. Also two car bomb explosions in Baghdad have killed at least 22 Iraqis and wounded about 80. Authorities say both bombs exploded near police targets in eastern Baghdad. The dead include both police and civilians. Also Iraqi officials say the bodies of 60 men who were tortured and shot to death.
In other news, a militant group in a statement posted on the Internet threatened to kill a Turkish hostage, unless the company that employs him shuts down its operations in Iraq within 72 hours. The US military announced today that two American soldiers were killed in combat, one in Anbar province, and one in south of Baghdad. Meanwhile, the lead prosecutor in the trial of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein has asked the chief judge to step down. The prosecutor complains the judge\ has failed to control outbursts in the court by the defendants and their lawyers.
The European Union's foreign policy chief is to meet with Iran's top nuclear negotiator on Thursday to discuss possible ways to resolve Iran's nuclear standoff with the West. An EU spokeswoman told reporters in Brussels Javier Solana will meet Iran's Ali Larijani somewhere in Europe, but the place has yet to be decided.
Syria's official news agency says a fourth man involved in Tuesday's attempt to attack the US Embassy in Damascus has died of his wounds. The news agency SANA quoted an unidentified official as saying the man who was detained after being wounded in a fire fight with Syrian security forces died at a hospital late Tuesday.
Turkish official say a bomb blast in the Kurdish populated city of Diyarbakir has killed ten people including several children. Authorities say the explosion late Tuesday may have occurred by accident while the device was being transported in the southeastern city. It is unclear who is responsible.
The Sri Lankan government says it will hold talks with Tamil Tiger rebels, provided they commit to a comprehensive and verifiable ceasefire. Sri Lanka issued a statement after denying reports by international mediators that they had already agreed to hold unconditional talks with the rebels in Norway in October. VOA's Patricia Nunan has more from New Delhi.
Sri Lanka officials on Wednesday at first said they will never consulted about holding unconditional peace talks with the Tamil rebels and said it was misleading to suggest the negotiations will take place soon. Norwegian peace mediator Erik Solheim told a meeting with the international donors in Brussels that Colombo had agreed to talk to the rebels. He suggested that discussions could be held in the Norwegian capital Oslo in early October. The government then agreed it was considering new talks. Norway brokered a ceasefire between the government and the rebels, officially known as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam, or LTTE, in 2002. The Sri Lankan monitoring mission was created as part of that truce, and European monitors were deployed across the country. The truce is all but clashed this year\ that two sides engaged in clashes that have killed more than 1,000 people in the past two months. The rebels first demanded independence and then greater autonomy for areas in the east and north of the country where the ethnic Tamil minority is predominant. More than 60,000 people have died in two decades of fighting. Patricia Nunan VOA news, New Delhi.
The international campaign to ban landmines has issued a report as we hear from R C in Bangkok.
The international campaign to ban landmine's report for 2006 released Wednesday, says that mine casualties occurred in 58 countries last year. Casualties from mines and explosives remnants rose 11 percent to more than 7,328. A number the report admits is publicly less than a half of the real total. The highest number of casualties more than 1,100 was recorded in Columbia. Thai Deputy Prime Minister Surakiart Sathirathai said, at the reports launching in Bangkok, that despite efforts to stop landmine news send production. Mines keep killing.
“Landmines are and if bitterly / from awkward warfare.”
The military powers of China, India, Pakistan, Russia and the United States are among those states that have not yet signed up to the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty. R C for VOA news, Bangkok.
I'm David Deforest VOA news, more news on the internet at .
