Nazi death camp accountant jailed

LUENEBURG (Germany) • A German court yesterday sentenced a former Nazi SS officer known as the "Bookkeeper of Auschwitz" to four years in jail.

Oskar Groening, 94, sat impassively as judge Franz Kompisch said "the defendant is found guilty of accessory to murder in 300,000 legally connected cases" of Jews sent to the gas chambers in 1944. Groening served as an accountant at Auschwitz, sorting money taken from those killed or used as slave labour.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Egypt foils ISIS suicide attack

CAIRO • Egypt's military said yesterday that its troops had foiled a suicide car bomb attack targeting an army outpost on a highway leading to the canal city of Suez.

The Egyptian affiliate of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group claimed the attack on a Twitter account. The military said the explosives-laden vehicle was destroyed and its driver killed.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Iconic Australian birds in decline

SYDNEY • Populations of some of Australia's iconic birds - including the kookaburra, magpie and willie wagtail - are in decline in parts of the country, says a new report, with habitat loss, feral cats and foxes among the likely causes.

The report published by Birdlife Australia was compiled using data from 420,000 surveys collected by volunteers across the continent since 1998.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE