Stockholm - The Swedish Academy that selects the Nobel literature laureate is reportedly split over how to respond to death threats against Italian best-selling author Roberto Saviano.

Saviano's book, Gomorra, has angered the mafia, or Camorra, in Naples, and he has been forced to live under police protection. A week ago he said in a newspaper interview that he was considering leaving Italy.

Beirut- Lebanon's Shiite movement Hezbollah denied on Thursday any links with a drug-ring captured in Colombia and said such reports are aimed at defaming the image of the movement.

"This is part of a Zionist campaign against the movement to defame its picture and they are based on pure lies," said Nawaf al Mussawi, Hezbollah's foreign affairs officer.

Mussawi met with the Colombian Ambassador to Lebanon, Georgina Mallat and handed her a condemnation letter, which stated that Hezbollah "does not participate in outlawed missions."

Baghdad- An apparent suicide bomb attack on the convoy of an Iraqi minister killed 11 and injured 22 Thursday, witnesses told the Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
The attack on the convoy of Iraqi Labour Minister Mahmoud al-Radi occurred in the Tahrir Square area in Baghdad, al-Arabiya TV reported.

Al-Radi was not injured in the blast, his ministry said in a statement.

Separately, a blast in a market area injured 16 people in Iraq's Diyala province.

Vienna  - German airline Deutsche Lufthansa AG has submitted a valid bid for Austrian Airlines AG (AUA), the Austrian takeover commission confirmed Thursday, but it said it was still uncertain if there would be a deal.

"Against the background of AUA's economic development and an apparent wide gap between the negotiating positions, it is uncertain whether the transaction can be concluded," the commission said in a statement.

The Austrian government is in the process of selling its 42.75-per-cent stake in the country's ailing flag carrier, but Air France has dropped out of the bidding process.