Inmates reportedly killed in prison riot

DAMASCUS - Rioting at a prison near Syria's capital killed at least nine inmates yesterday. Mohammed Abdullah, a Syrian human rights activist based in Beirut, said rioting inmates called him and informed him of the deaths, using a cellphone belonging to one of the guards they had taken hostage. He said some inmates were angered when a police officer stepped on a copy of the Koran during a routine inspection. (AP)

RAMALLAH - Israeli forces blockaded a Palestinian village yesterday in what the army called an open-ended effort to curb protests against the construction nearby of the West Bank barrier. Troops were encircling Ni'lin, near the Palestinian city of Ramallah, under orders to vet those entering or leaving and turn back would-be demonstrators against the barrier, which has been condemned internationally for taking in occupied land. (Reuters)

BERLIN - A man tore the head from a waxwork figure of Adolf Hitler at the opening of new Berlin branch of Madame Tussauds museum yesterday. Just minutes after the museum opened, the 41-year-old German man pushed aside two security men guarding the exhibit. The police arrested the man on suspicion of assault and damaging property. The display of the Nazi dictator in a mock bunker has been criticized as being in bad taste. (Reuters)

NAZRAN - A seven-hour shoot-out yesterday between Russian soldiers and suspected militants holed up in a house in the republic of Ingushetia left two dead on each side, officials said. Two other attacks in the restive region on the same day left one officer dead and two wounded. (AP)

ANKARA - Eight out of 21 prominent Turks detained in a police investigation into coup allegations have been formally arrested and two senior former generals have been taken to court, state-run media said yesterday. Sinan Aygun, the chairman of Ankara's Chamber of Commerce, was among the eight. Aygun is a secularist critic of the ruling AK Party. (Reuters)

YORK - The archbishop of York yesterday rebuked some Anglican traditionalists for what he called ungracious behavior toward Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams. Williams has drawn criticism from both sides in the church over the role of homosexuals in the church, but Archbishop John Sentamu told the Church of England's General Synod some of the criticism was excessive. (AP)