Briefly World: Aus PM sets Sept 14 for polls

Aus PM sets Sept 14 for polls

CANBERRA: Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard set national elections for September 14, stunning voters on Wednesday with eight months notice of the vote in a bold move designed to end political uncertainty surrounding her struggling minority government. "It is not right for Australians to be forced into a guessing game, and it's not right for Australians to not face this year with certainty and stability," she said.

Malala to undergo final surgery

LONDON: Malala Yousufzai, who was shot at by Taliban in Pakistan last October, is headed toward a full recovery once she undergoes a final surgery to reconstruct her skull, doctors said Wednesday. Dr Dave Rosser of Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth Hospital said the 15-year-old had made a "remarkable recovery." Rosser said it would likely be a year or 18 months before she made a complete recovery.

Armed men rob California gurdwara

Washington: Livingston police in California said three armed robbers entered a gurdwara through the front door early Sunday morning. The men took a few thousand dollars from a donation box and left through a side door, local newspaper Merced Sunstar quoted police as saying Tuesday.

US: Man kills school bus driver, takes child

MIDLAND CITY: Police teams Wednesday launched a hunt to nab a man accused of fatally shooting a school bus driver and fleeing with a six-year-old. The man boarded the bus in Midland City, Alabama, on Tuesday afternoon and shot the driver when he refused to let the child off, Dale County Sheriff Wally Olsen told WBMA-TV.

French troops to leave soon

France's foreign minister said Wednesday that French forces would depart Mali "quickly'' following their success in taking control of the airport in Kidal. "Now it's up to African countries to take over,'' French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told Le Parisien newspaper. "We decided to put the means — in men and supplies — to make the mission succeed and hit hard. But the French aspect was never expected to be maintained. We will leave quickly."

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