In Brief

* JUSTICE – Germany’s highest court ordered the release of a suspected top al-Qaeda operative citing objections to a new European Union arrest warrant that would have allowed his extradition to Spain.

* SENTENCED – A former secret police commander accused of masterminding the murder of Serbian prime minister Zoran Djindjic was sentenced to 40 years in jail for the assassination of a former president. * TYPHOON – Typhoon Haitang pounded central Taiwan with heavy winds and rain, injuring 34 people and shutting down airports, schools, government offices and financial markets in the most powerful storm to hit the country in 15 years.* DISSIDENT – Jailed dissident Iranian writer Akbar Ganji has been admitted to hospital after being on hunger strike for more than a month, his wife said.* SHOT – Two militants were shot dead by Israeli troops, as Israel carried out a fresh air strike and threatened a wide-scale ground offensive in the Gaza Strip unless Palestinians halted rocket attacks.* GUNNED – Pakistani forces gunned down 17 suspected militants, most of them foreigners, after surrounding their compound in the rugged tribal belt bordering Afghanistan, officials said.* BLAST – Suspicions in a probe into the deadly bombing of a minibus in this Turkish seaside resort have focused on Kurdish separatists, officials said, as police determined that a bomb in a waist pack hidden in the vehicle caused the blast.- Nampa-AFP* TYPHOON – Typhoon Haitang pounded central Taiwan with heavy winds and rain, injuring 34 people and shutting down airports, schools, government offices and financial markets in the most powerful storm to hit the country in 15 years.* DISSIDENT – Jailed dissident Iranian writer Akbar Ganji has been admitted to hospital after being on hunger strike for more than a month, his wife said.* SHOT – Two militants were shot dead by Israeli troops, as Israel carried out a fresh air strike and threatened a wide-scale ground offensive in the Gaza Strip unless Palestinians halted rocket attacks.* GUNNED – Pakistani forces gunned down 17 suspected militants, most of them foreigners, after surrounding their compound in the rugged tribal belt bordering Afghanistan, officials said.* BLAST – Suspicions in a probe into the deadly bombing of a minibus in this Turkish seaside resort have focused on Kurdish separatists, officials said, as police determined that a bomb in a waist pack hidden in the vehicle caused the blast.- Nampa-AFP