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WASHINGTON: A US judge on Thursday ruled that the
first Guantánamo prison war crimes trial against Osama bin
Laden’s former driver could go ahead as scheduled next week.
“The motion for injunction is denied,” said Judge James
Robertson, rejecting the last-ditch attempt by the lawyers of Yemeni
detainee Salim Hamdan to halt his trial. Hamdan, 37, is the first
“enemy combatant” from the US “war on terror” to face a
military tribunal since the Guantanamo prison camp was opened in
late 2001.
--AFP
QUNU, South Africa: Nelson
Mandela, the icon of the anti-apartheid movement and South
Africa’s first black president, celebrated his 90th birthday
Friday as tributes poured in from around the world. While Mandela
employed his usual self-deprecating sense of humor, referring to
himself as a retired old man, South Africans hailed him as the
father of the nation and an unstoppable force for good even though
he has long retired.
--AFP
BOGOTA: The Colombian government
refused Thursday to authorize Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega to
talk with the FARC guerrilla group after the leftist leader accepted
a rebel invitation to meet with them. The administration of
President Alvaro Uribe issued an official protest saying it would
not give Ortega permission to hold talks with the rebels, who have
sought to topple the government for four decades. Ortega said late
Wednesday he was willing to speak with the FARC.
--AFP
HARARE: Zimbabwean opposition MDC-T
leader Morgan Tsvangirai has been urged to commit himself to the
ongoing inter-party talks following his last-minute decision to
withhold his signature from a Memorandum of Understanding setting
the agenda for dialogue between his party, Zanu-PF and the Arthur
Mutambara-led MDC faction. Traditional leaders and churches urged
Tsvangirai to commit himself fully to dialogue saying this was the
only way the current challenges could be addressed, The Herald
reported on Friday.
--XINHUA
PARIS: The Organization of
Economic Cooperation and Development has called for the
establishment of minimum thresholds for reducing greenhouse gases in
order to lift tariff barriers on these products and accelerate
technological research. The international community was urged to
make efforts to improve efficiency in biofuels, saying that the
production of ethanol from grains and sugar cane and biofuels from
vegetable oils has increased rapidly in recent years and is expected
to double in size over the next 10 years.
--XINHUA
AMMAN: Jordan’s Health Ministry
has decided to provide married couples contraceptive devices free of
charge in a step to support family planning services, local daily
Jordan Times reported Friday. The ministry said contraceptive
devices, including condoms and birth control pills, will be
available at hospitals, health centers and family planning
organizations by the end of the year. Despite various initiatives on
family planning, birth control is still not widely practiced in
Jordan, said Higher Population Council’s Secretary-General Raeda
Qutob.
--XINHUA
A company of 172 Chinese
engineers arrived today in Nyala in South Darfur, to join the joint
United Nations-African Union peacekeeping mission (Unamid) in
Sudan’s troubled western region. The Chinese contingent will work
primarily on the completion of a camp in Nyala and will expand other
Unamid camps in Darfur, providing the infrastructure and facilities
that will allow more peacekeepers to deploy. They bring the total
number of Chinese engineers in Darfur to 315 and the total number of
Unamid forces to 8,000.
Protecting children in armed conflict is a moral
issue, Secretary-General Ban KiMoon stressed today, calling for
increased action to safeguard young people caught up in violence.
“The protection of children in armed conflict is a litmus test for
the United Nations and the Organization’s Member States,”
Ban said told the Security Council in an open www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2008/sc9398.doc.htm
debate. “It is a moral call, and deserves to be placed above
politics. It requires innovative, fearless engagement by all
stakeholders.”
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