Trash duty
Italy’s Premier Silvio Berlusconi said Wednesday that he will deploy the military to protect trash dumps around Naples as he pledged to remove tons of stinking garbage from its streets and to restore the city’s image. The crisis began in December when garbage collectors stopped picking up trash because many dumps were full.
Bomb scare
Swedish police arrested two maintenance workers on suspicion of plotting sabotage after they tried to enter a nuclear power plant Wednesday with traces of a powerful explosive like that used in the 2005 London transit bombings, officials said. The plant’s operator said no bomb was found at the Oskarshamn generating station, which provides 10 percent of Sweden’s electricity.
Mob killings
A group of up to 300 young men killed 11 people who were accused of being witches and wizards in western Kenya, in some cases slitting their throats or clubbing them to death before burning their bodies, officials said Wednesday. The gang was armed with a list of suspects and the kind of spells they were believed to have cast on the community, an official said.
Peace talks
Israel and Syria unexpectedly announced Wednesday the resumption of peace talks after an eight-year break, saying they have been speaking indirectly through Turkish mediators “in order to achieve the goal of comprehensive peace.” Noticeably absent from the announcement was the U.S., the traditional power broker in the region.
PARIS: A police officer shields himself from smoking flares hurled by protesters Wednesday as French fisherman demonstrated in front of the Agriculture Ministry in Paris. Mounting protests over rising fuel costs have disrupted ports and oil terminals across the country.
DAKAR, Senegal: The bodies of at least 38 whales washed up on a Dakar beach, and wildlife officials say as many as 100 swam up close to the shore. Villagers living nearby said the whales were spotted late Tuesday night, veering closer and closer to the coast as the tide came in. By Wednesday morning many were beached.
ST. GALLEN, Switzerland: What a mess! All this over a soccer game. Police used rubber bullets and tear gas to break up a fight among fans Wednesday. According to police, more than 100 anti-riot officers were called to the scene.
GENEVA: German artist Arnd Drossel runs Wednesday in his steel ball “Inner Balance.” Drossel will cross the Rade of Geneva this week in the ball as part of a meeting regarding mental health. Drossel walked nearly 200 miles last year to draw attention to people suffering from mental disorders.
THE DIGIT
19
Number of people hurt when a woman wielding pepper spray attacked a man who complained she was talking too loudly on her cell phone, police in Vienna said Wednesday.
AND FINALLY …
– Donkey released from Mexican jail after being arrested for assault – South African troops to help quell anti-immigrant violence – Jordan militants sentenced for plotting chemical attack — Police: 156 die drinking tainted liquor in southern India in five days
