UK News 18-03-2005 who: Private Johnson Gideon Beharry what: Awarded Victoria Cross for exceptional bravery when: Thursday snippet: The 25 year-old, who is still recovering from the "appalling head wounds" he suffered in Iraq last May, joined thye army less than four years ago and "is now one of just 14 living recipients of the award which he received for saving the lives of 30 comrades," says The Times. "Only 1,355 have been awarded, many of them posthumously." In other Iraq news, prime minister Silvio Berlusconi announced that he was pulling Italian troops out of Iraq on Tuesday; the country`s new parliament had its ceremonial opening in Baghdad on Wednesday; and on Thursday, US ambassador John Negroponte left the capital to take up a new post in Washington DC, leaving the US "with no senior representative in a country it still effectively runs," says The Telegraph. [... more]

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