AFGHANISTAN: A suicide bomber wearing military uniform struck the fortified Interior Ministry compound in central Kabul yesterday, killing six police officers.

Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said the bomber got through several checkpoints to reach the ministry gate before detonating his explosives.

The blast occurred outside a nearby bank where police officers collect their pay.

BOLIVIA: Police clashed with unofficially striking miners during a protest on Monday in which at least two demonstrators died.

Interior Minister Carlos Romero admitted that 50 people had been injured as police tried to clear a highway blocked by protesters.

Police used rubber bullets and tear gas while the protesting miners hurled dynamite.

The miners were protesting against a new law that stops them associating with private mining companies.

GERMANY: Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cabinet yesterday approved a national minimum wage of €8.50 (£7.04) to start next year.

Ms Merkel’s conservative bloc had been against setting a minimum wage, but agreed to establish one as part of the deal to form a government with the Social Democrats.

Federal Labour Minister Andrea Nahles said that a minimum wage would “provide greater fairness” and result in better earnings for some four million people.

EUROPEAN UNION: Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia is to impose a €302 million (£250m) fine against 11 producers of high voltage power cables for operating a cartel.

Mr Almunia said yesterday the firms “knew very well that what they were doing was illegal.”

The EU said the six European, three Japanese and two South Korean firms colluded to allocate customers between themselves from 1999 for about 10 years “on an almost worldwide scale.”

ITALY: Police said yesterday that they had arrested 24 secessionists who were allegedly planning a violent campaign aimed at making the wealthy north-eastern Veneto region independent.

Police said the group had built an armoured vehicle which they had intended to deploy in St Mark’s Square in Venice.

TV footage showed the so-called tank was in fact a converted tractor.

MALAYSIA: Human Rights Watch warned yesterday that police abuse was a serious human rights problem, with unjustified shootings, mistreatment and deaths in custody occurring because police lack accountability.

The watchdog produced a 102-page report based on interviews with 75 people including victims of abuse, lawyers, police officers and human rights activists.

It documented scores of suspicious shootings and incidences of torture.

The group urged the government to create an independent commission with powers to investigate allegations against the police.

YEMEN: Suspected al-Qaida militants attacked a southern army complex yesterday, killing at least six soldiers and two civilians.

The attack in the port city of Aden started when the militants detonated an explosives-laden car at the complex’s gate and fired on the troops.

Hospital officials said three of the attackers also died in the subsequent shootout.

CHILE: Authorities lifted tsunami warnings early yesterday after a magnitude-8.2 earthquake struck the northern coast on Tuesday.

Six people were crushed to death or suffered fatal heart attacks.

The extent of damage could not yet be fully assessed, President Michelle Bachelet said.

She declared a state of emergency in the region and sent a military plane with 100 anti-riot police to join 300 soldiers deployed to prevent looting and round up escaped prisoners.