New suicide attacks kill only bombers

Two suicide attackers targeting international peacekeepers and police blew themselves up Wednesday, two days after nearly simultaneous bombings killed at least 21 people at a resort in the Sinai Peninsula.

Egyptian Interior Minister Habib el-Adly said all the blasts this week were linked to terror attacks against Sinai resorts last year and in 2004.

“The information we have indicates that (the perpetrators) are Sinai Bedouin, and the latest operations are linked to the previous attacks,” el-Adly told state television, referring to the terror attacks in the Sinai resorts of Sharm el-Sheik in July and Taba in October 2004.

Wednesday’s attacks were unsophisticated – one bomber was riding a bicycle – and only the militants died.

United Nations

Bird flu found in 45 countries

Bird flu has hit 45 countries, killed more than 100 people and seems to be spreading quickly, the U.N. official in charge of tracking the virus said Wednesday.

David Nabarro said the virus has led to the deaths of some 200 million birds and has impoverished millions of small poultry farmers.

Between 2003 and 2005, the virus was reported in 15 countries. But in the first four months of this year it has moved rapidly to 30 new countries, with major outbreaks in Turkey, Iraq, Israel, Gaza, Egypt, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Myanmar, India, Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon and Bukina Faso.

Oslo, Norway

Abbas requests conference

Mahmoud Abbas called Wednesday for an international conference to end his people’s conflict with Israel – with the Palestinian president sidestepping the Hamas government and leading the talks himself.

The idea, raised in the city that gave its name to the historic 1993 Oslo peace accords, reflects Abbas’ power struggle with Hamas, the Islamic militant group whose recent election victory has isolated the Palestinians and reinforced Israel’s determination to draw borders without negotiations.

Israel, however, has long opposed international conferences, and Hamas refused to comment on the idea.

With the West and Israel trying to force Hamas to renounce its violent ideology by cutting vital aid and tax transfers to the Palestinian Authority, Abbas apparently is trying to use his international legitimacy to ease the pressure on his increasingly isolated people.

Chiselet, Romania

Thousands ousted by Danube flooding

More than 15,000 Romanians who fled areas flooded by the Danube River are crowded into tent communities and faced with dwindling food supplies, residents and volunteers said Wednesday.

With waters still rising after about two weeks of flooding, hundreds have taken refuge on a hill overlooking Chiselet, a village of 3,400 people in south-central Romania. Some are in makeshift shelters made from plastic sheets, while others have crammed into army tents. Food is running low, they say.

It is a situation seen along the length of Romania’s southern border, where the Danube – Europe’s second-longest river – has reached record levels from melting snow and heavy rains. Parts of Ukraine and Bulgaria also have seen heavy flooding.