EIGHT people were killed and more than 30 injured when two bombs exploded in a crowded market in central Baghdad yesterday, Iraqi security officials say.

The blasts, both believed to be caused by car bombs, happened almost simultaneously, the officials said. The number of casualties is expected to rise, according to police sources.

Car bombs have exploded in various markets in Iraq this week after the curfew imposed for the sentencing of Saddam Hussein was lifted.

Some 100 people have been killed in Iraq in the past four days as Baghdad and other parts of Iraq suffered renewed violence following a lull during the curfew.

Minogue returns to stage AUSTRALIAN pop star Kylie Minogue returned to stage yesterday for the first time since recovering from breast cancer, energetically belting out her trademark hits in front of a cheering, screaming crowd of thousands.

Dressed in feathers from head to toe, with an Australian cockatoo's plume on her head, she began her concert at the Sydney Entertainment Centre with an overture of her best-known songs before whipping into the single 'Better the Devil You Know'.

The near sell-out crowd of 10,000 included parents with their children, teenyboppers, bohemians in black berets as well as a large contingent of gay men in pink hot pants and pink boa feathers who over the years have adopted Minogue as an icon.

Somali leaders make deal SOMALIA'S Islamist leaders say they have agreed a deal to avoid hostilities with the transitional government.

The deal was sealed by the Islamists and a parliamentary delegation led by Speaker Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan. However, Adan does not carry the authorisation of the transitional government, which has made no comment yet on the agreement. The Islamists have taken control of most of southern Somalia since seizing the capital, Mogadishu, in June.