IRAQ

Bomb attacks kill 19, including U.S. soldier

BAGHDAD — A suicide bombing northeast of the capital and a car bombing in Baghdad on Thursday shattered the calm of an otherwise unusually peaceful holiday period in Iraq. Authorities said 19 people were killed in the two attacks, including a U.S. soldier.

The suicide bomber struck in Kanaan, a Shiite-dominated town near the city of Baqouba in Diyala province, about 35 miles northeast of Baghdad. He detonated his explosives as a U.S. patrol was about to enter a building where a city council meeting was to be held, the U.S. military said.

The U.S. military said one soldier and five civilians were killed, and that 10 more soldiers and one Iraqi were wounded. However, local police and the hospital morgue in Baqouba said 13 people were killed at the scene.

GAZA STRIP

Israel examining Hamas truce offer

GAZA CITY — Israel is examining a Hamas truce proposal delivered by Egypt, defense officials said Thursday after at least six Palestinians were killed in a day of Israeli air and ground strikes aimed at stopping rocket salvos from Gaza.

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said the Hamas proposal was limited to stopping the rocket fire in exchange for a halt to Israeli military operations in Gaza. They said Hamas gave assurances it could impose the truce on the militant groups that are firing the rockets — Islamic Jihad and the Popular Resistance Committees.

There was no immediate comment from the Egyptian government.

BRAZIL

Thieves steal millions of dollars in artworks

SAO PAULO — Armed with nothing more than a crow bar and a car jack, it took thieves just three minutes to steal paintings by Pablo Picasso and Candido Portinari, worth millions of dollars, from Brazil's premier modern art museum.

Authorities said they hit the Sao Paulo Museum of Art just before dawn Thursday — a time when the city's busiest avenue is deserted and the guards inside were going through their shift change.

Jumping over a glass partition, they climbed an open concrete staircase leading up into the entrance of the two-story modernist building, which hovers over a large plaza on stilts of steel.

For a short time, they could have been seen from blocks away. But the thieves worked quickly. A few jabs of the crowbar, and they were able to slip a common car jack under the metal security gate. A few more cranks and they squeezed inside.

SOUTH AFRICA

Charges could derail ANC leader's hopes

POLOKWANE — South Africa's top prosecutor said Thursday he has enough evidence to bring corruption charges against new African National Congress leader Jacob Zuma, a case that could derail his election as the country's next president. Zuma responded: "Take me to court."

The possibility that Zuma could face trial upstaged his first public speech since he defeated President Thabo Mbeki in a bitter ANC leadership contest Tuesday.

Public prosecutor Mokotedi Mpshe told The Associated Press that he would announce in the new year the next step in the investigation against Zuma.

"The type of evidence we have so far can be taken to court," he said.

—From wire reports