Refugee aid

    NINETEEN countries are donating US$1.8 billion to the top U.N. aid organizations to help alleviate the suffering of migrants and refugees in camps near Mideast areas of turmoil.

    The donors include the U.S. and other members of the G-7 group of leading industrial states, other European countries and wealthy Gulf nations, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

    Mumbai bombings

    AN Indian court yesterday sentenced five suspected Islamic militants to death and gave seven others life in prison for bombing attacks nine years ago on seven Mumbai commuter trains that killed 188 people and wounded more than 800.

    Seven bombs exploded during a 10-minute span during the evening rush hour in July 2006 in Mumbai, the financial and entertainment capital of India.

    The trial in India’s notoriously slow justice system lasted more than seven years. Prosecutors said the attack was hatched by Pakistan’s Directorate of Inter-Services Intelligence and carried out by Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives with help from the Students’ Islamic Movement of India, a banned militant organization. Pakistan has denied the charges.

    Turkish hostages freed

    SIXTEEN Turkish workers who had been kidnapped in Iraq nearly a month ago were freed yesterday and were in good health, Turkish officials said.

    They were among 18 employees of Turkish construction firm Nurol Insaat kidnapped Sept. 2 in the Sadr City area of north Baghdad, where they were working on a soccer stadium project. The kidnappers had said Turkey must order rebel forces to stop besieging Shiite villages in northern Syria, stop militants from traveling from Turkey to Iraq.