Iraq violence

Baghdad, Feb. 4 (Reuters): Mortar bombs killed 15 people in a Sunni neighbourhood in Baghdad today in fresh violence after a truck bomb killed 135 people in a Shia area in the worst single bombing since the US-led 2003 invasion.

The spiralling sectarian bloodshed threw the spotlight on Shia Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s planned crackdown. Over 20 were killed elsewhere in Baghdad today.

Jakarta flood

Jakarta (Reuters): Flood in the Indonesian capital has killed at least 20 people and made nearly 200,000 homeless, with the deluge of muddy brown water up to 13 feet deep in some areas. Downpours over Jakarta weakened at the weekend, but heavy rain in upland areas sent more water into the city.

Korea N-talks

Tokyo (Reuters): North Korea’s top nuclear envoy has told former US officials Pyongyang wants more than half a million tonnes of fuel oil a year in return for suspending its atomic reactor, a Japanese daily said on Sunday. It would exceed the energy assistance offered to the country under an 1994 deal.

Spacewalk

Cape Canaveral, Florida (AP): Small amounts of toxic ammonia leaked from a fluid line on Sunday as two astronauts conducted the second of three spacewalks in nine days, upgrading the International Space Station’s cooling system. Sunita Williams and Michael Lopez-Alegria are stated to be safe.