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One killed, ten wounded in twin blasts in Baghdad

Iraq MapBaghdad - Twin blasts in Baghdad Thursday killed a civilian and wounded ten more, Voices of Iraq (VOI) news agency reported.

In the first blast a carbomb exploded in a market place in northestern al-Hurria district. The explosion killed a civilian and wounded five, a police source said.

In the second blast, a bomb went off targeting a police patrol in al-Fadiliya district in the capital's east. The denotation injured five people including three policemen, a police source said.

Nalbandian's win postpones secure Shanghai spot for Del Potro

david-nalbandianParis - David Nalbandian defeated compatriot Juan Del Potro for the second week in a row, earning a 6-4, 6-0 victory in the third round of the Paris Masters on Thursday.

Nalbandian's victory over his 20-year-old rival also mathematically delayed Del Potro's chance of formally clinching a place in the Masters Cup.

Del Potro has been nursing a painful split toenail for months, with no time to have it removed until after the Davis Cup final with Spain in late November.

He remains on provisional seventh in the race to the eight-man season-wrap event in Shanghai starting a week from Sunday.

17 injured in northern Spain car-bomb attack

Madrid, SpainPamplona - Seventeen people were injured on Thursday in a car-bomb attack in the northern Spanish city of Pamplona, local authorities reported.

A vehicle exploded in a car park in the grounds of the University of Navarra in Pamplona, capital of the Navarra province which borders on the separatist Basque region.

Witnesses said several vehicles were set on fire by the explosion, and nearby buildings were substantially damaged.

UN to provide food to earthquake survivors in Pakistan

World Food ProgrammeIslamabad- The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said on Thursday it planned to provide food assistance to nearly 20,000 people left homeless by the deadly earthquake that struck Pakistan's north-western Balochistan province a day ago.

"We need to move fast, so we are going to start distributing food stocks from our warehouses in Quetta and Peshawar, so we can reach the people who need it most," said WFP Pakistan Country Director Wolfgang Herbinger, in a statement.

He added that the organization would be coordinating its response with the government and other UN agencies.

Motorola plunges into the red

The Motorola New York - US mobile-phone maker Motorola Inc on Thursday reported a loss of 397 million dollars for the third quarter of 2008, down from a profit of 60 million dollars in the same quarter of 2007, despite a financial restructuring plan.

Sales fell by a more-than-expected 15 per cent to 7.5 billion dollars, Motorola reported from its headquarters in Schaumburg in the US state of Illinois.

The company's handset division suffered heavy losses.

A plan to break up the company in 2009 has now been delayed.

Mothers protest, doctors strike as cuts start to bite in Latvia

Riga, LatviaRiga- Young mothers staged a protest for increased child support Thursday outside the Latvian parliament building, while doctors went on strike and the government wrestled with next year's budget.

Several dozen young mothers with an assortment of prams, pushchairs and carry-cots gathered outside the Latvian parliament holding banners saying "What can you buy for eight lats a month?" and "While MPs are full of cash, children have nothing!"

Eight lats (14 dollars) is the current monthly allowance paid to mothers of children up to the age of three.

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