■ Iraq
Gun-wielding child shot
A seven-year-old child brandishing a Kalashnikov was shot in the foot by US troops during a raid in the hotspot city of Ramadi, west of Baghdad, the US military said yesterday. The soldiers had apparently seen two men with weapons running into a house. When the soldiers approached the house, "a seven-year-old child came out with an AK-47 rifle pointed at the soldiers. A soldier responded in self-defense and shot the child in the foot," a Central Command statement said. The statement said the child was evacuated to a nearby army medical facility for treatment.
■ New Zealand
Mugabe threat welcomed
New Zealand Foreign Minister Phil Goff yesterday said that he would welcome Zimbabwe quitting the British Commonwealth, as Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has previously threatened. Reacting to Mugabe's accusation that the "white" section (Britain, New Zealand, Australia and Canada) of the 54-nation grouping was leading an attack on his country, Goff told Radio New Zealand that the Zimbabwean president had breached the basic laws of human rights set out by the UN -- not just by "white" or Western countries. He said that until Zimbabwe's human rights record improved it should stay suspended from the Commonwealth and New Zealand would welcome it leaving of its own accord.
■ United States
Boyfriend almost castrated
A woman was convicted of kidnapping for planning an attack in which four of her friends assaulted and attempted to castrate her ex-boyfriend. Melissa French, 27, was convicted on Wednesday and faces at least 18 years in prison -- more than any of the attackers, all of whom accepted plea deals with prosecutors. The men attacked Donald Hamilton at his Santa Fe home in June last year. An assault rifle was placed in Hamilton's mouth and later fired between his legs, and the word "narc" was carved into his forehead with a pocketknife. He suffered separated shoulders, stab wounds and broken bones.
■ Brazil
Two die in prison revolt
Prisoners beat to death two fellow inmates and took three guards hostage during a 13-hour prison uprising in southern Brazil that ended Friday when authorities agreed to consider transferring the rebels to prisons in their home states. The guards were released unharmed, a spokesman at the state Justice Ministry said. The rebellion broke out when two inmates performing renovation work at the high security prison in Piraquara in Parana state used pickaxes to overwhelm guards. Two inmates were killed when the rebelling prisoners slammed them against walls and beat them with pickaxes.
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