World News 13-11-2003 Italy`s Worst Loss Since WWII who: Silvio Berlusconi what: Vows to help rebuild Iraq in spite of heavy loss in suicide bombing where: Iraq when: Yesterday snippet: "Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has said his country will not be deterred by a bomb in Iraq which claimed the lives of 18 Italians," reports the BBC this morning. "It remained committed, he said, to helping Iraq rebuild and form a government in `security and freedom`." Nevertheless, the US president George W Bush has ordered L Paul Bremer, his senior envoy in Iraq, "to speed up the handover of power to local politicians," reports The Telegraph. Mr Bremer rushed to a meeting in Washington DC yesterday with Mr Bush, vice-president Dick Cheney, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice and secretary of state Colin Powell in which they sought to "plot a new course". Eight Iraqis died in the suicide bombing in the southern Iraqi Shiite Muslim city of Nasiriya yesterday in addition to 16 Italian soldiers, an Italian civilian and an Italian documentary film maker. It was "the worst single military loss for Italy since the second world war," says The Guardian. Furthermore, about 80 Iraqis were wounded when the bomber`s truck crashed into the entrance of the carabinieri HQ, says The Independent, including "a one-year-old child, who suffered severe facial injuries and was not expected to survive". [... more]

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