American forces launched an offensive to seize back control of the Iraqi town of Samarra on Friday, claiming to have killed almost 100 insurgents and captured more than 30 in several hours of bombing raids and street fighting. US forces also carried out air and ground strikes on Friday night deep into the Sadr City slum in east Baghdad, while jets mounted another raid on the rebel city of Falluja, killing at least three civilians.
John Kerry was on Friday widely declared the winner of the first presidential debate, after an aggressive performance left a scowling President George Bush sometimes groping for words. It was, however, too early to tell whether the debate, at Miami University, would be enough for Senator Kerry to close the president’s five to 10 percentage point lead in time for the election a month today.
A Zimbabwe court on Friday ordered the release without charge of 46 women who were arrested earlier this week for staging a protest march between the second city of Bulawayo and Harare, a lawyer said. Seven others, including prominent activist Jenni Williams, who were arrested on Wednesday in Harare, have yet to make a court appearance.
Three people were arrested in connection with child pornography in KwaZulu-Natal on Friday when provincial government offices and houses of suspected employees were raided, police said. Police spokesperson Superintendent Vishnu Naidoo confirmed that a man was arrested in Ladysmith on Friday afternoon while two other ”very senior” officials were arrested in Nqutu and Umdloti.
United States software giant Microsoft insisted on Friday that nobody would want to buy its Windows operating system without Media Player, in an appeal against a European Union ruling that it had abused its market dominance. The Brussels commission also required Microsoft to provide competitors with the information they needed to enable their products to communicate with Windows.
At least 90 people were killed and 180 wounded on Friday as United States troops and Iraqi forces charged into Samarra in a first effort to reclaim troublespots before Iraq’s planned elections, while a shocked nation buried 34 children killed by car bombs.
The Gaza strip was bracing for a fresh Israeli military assault after a Hamas rocket attack on an Israeli town on Wednesday killed two children, one an infant. Israel’s Prime Minister Ariel Sharon vowed to respond ”with severity” to the attack on the town of Sderot, in which another 20 people were wounded. Late on Wednesday evening missiles ploughed into the Jabaliya refugee camp, killing two Palestinians.
A suicide attacker detonated a huge bomb that ripped through a Shi’ite Muslim mosque in an eastern Pakistani city during Friday prayers, killing at least 15 people and injuring dozens, officials said. Police said that hundreds of people were inside the Zainabia mosque in the centre of Sialkot city at the time of the blast, which severely damaged walls and left body parts scattered inside.
MOVIE OF THE WEEK: In Collateral, Jamie Foxx is a taxi driver who takes pride in getting people to their destinations in good time; Tom Cruise is the professional hit man who is determined to finish his night’s roster of assassinations on schedule. Shaun de Waal reviews.
Two Palestinians were killed in an Israeli air strike on the Gaza Strip on Friday morning, just hours after around 100 Israeli tanks moved deep into the area in a hunt for militants. The latest campaign, which began three days ago and aims to stop rocket attacks on southern Israel, intensified after Prime Minister Ariel Sharon gave a green light to a larger operation codenamed ”Days of Penitence”.