A BOMB killed 26 people in a Shi'ite stronghold in east Baghdad yesterday, hours after Sunni Muslims began the fasting month of Ramadan, which US commanders have warned may see a rise in sectarian bloodshed.

The blast also wounded 29 people who had gathered around a tanker distributing fuel for stoves in Sadr City, police said. It came hours after a regional leader of one of the most violent Sunni Islamist insurgent groups, Ansar al-Sunna, was captured, according to the Iraqi Defence Ministry.

Sony investigates notebook fire

JAPANESE electronics maker Sony said on yesterday it is investigating a fire incident on a Lenovo laptop PC that reportedly used a Sonymade battery.

Media reports said a Lenovo notebook computer equipped with a Sony battery caught fire at Los Angeles International Airport last weekend.

The incident came after Dell and Apple Computer last month recalled almost 6 million Sony-made batteries, saying they could catch fire.

Gervais puts a stop to podcasts

RICKY Gervais is to stop making his comedy podcasts, saying he wants to "knock it on the head for a while before everyone hates us".

The Ricky Gervais Show podcasts, which also featured The Office cowriter Stephen Merchant and Karl Pilkington, were downloaded nearly eight million times.