A Catholic archbishop kidnapped in Iraq has been freed, the Vatican said yesterday.
Pope John Paul II was informed immediately of the release, said papal spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls.
"He changed his prayer to one of thanks," he said.
A ransom of US$200,000 had been demanded at first but the bishop was released without the payment of any money, the Vatican said.
The prelate kidnapped on Monday was Basile Georges Casmoussa, 66, of the Syrian Catholic Church, one of the branches of the Roman Catholic Church.
The Vatican had branded the kidnapping a "despicable terrorist act" and demanded his immediate release.
A priest in Iraq said on condition of anonymity that the archbishop was walking in front of the al-Bishara church in Mosul's eastern neighborhood of Muhandeseen when the gunmen forced him into a car and drove away.
The reason for the kidnapping was unclear but Christians -- tens of thousands of whom live in and around Mosul -- have been subjected to attacks in the past.
Navarro-Valls said the Vatican didn't view the kidnapping as an anti-Christian act but part of the general climate of violence in Iraq. He said the archbishop was well-loved in the community.
Meanwhile, eight Chinese nationals were kidnapped by militants in Iraq, the official Xinhua news agency said yesterday, citing the Chinese embassy in Baghdad.
The al-Jazeera TV channel yesterday aired footage of the alleged prisoners in Iraq, whose abductors are threatening to execute them unless Beijing "clarifies its role" in Iraq within 48 hours.
The kidnappers said that the eight "worked with US forces in Iraq," the Qatar-based station said, showing the group surrounded by two hooded gunmen.
Elsewhere, Iraqi officials said yesterday that they will seal the country's borders, extend a nighttime curfew and restrict movement inside the country to protect voters during the Jan. 30 elections, which insurgents are seeking to ruin with a campaign of violence.
Attacks continued yesterday, with a suicide car bomber detonating explosives outside the offices of a leading Shiite political party, killing himself and three other people as part of an apparent rebel campaign to frighten Shiites from voting.
Also, masked gunmen killed a Shiite Muslim candidate in the Iraqi capital.
Sunni Muslim militants, who make up the bulk of Iraq's insurgency, are increasingly honing in on Shiites in their campaign to ruin the Jan. 30 election that is widely expected to propel their religious rivals to a position of dominance.
Yesterday morning's car bombing gouged a crater in the pavement, left several vehicles in flames and spread shredded debris and flesh on the street outside the offices of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), a main contender in the election.
The party has close ties to Iran and is strongly opposed by Sunni Muslim militants.
The assailant told guards at a checkpoint leading to the party's office that he was part of SCIRI's security staff, but detonated his bomb-laden car at the guard post when he was not allowed to enter.
The US military reported that the bomber and three others were dead and that four people were injured.
Iraq's Independent Electoral Commission announced that the country's international borders would be closed between Jan. 29 and Jan. 31, except for Muslim pilgrims who are returning from the hajj.
Iraqis will also be barred from traveling between provinces and a nighttime curfew will be imposed during the same period, a statement said.
A third US trooper also died in fighting in Iraq's troubled Anbar Province, west of Baghdad, the military said yesterday.
Two other soldiers assigned to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force were also killed in action there on Monday.
In his National Day Rally speech on Sunday, Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) quoted the Taiwanese song One Small Umbrella (一支小雨傘) to describe his nation’s situation. Wong’s use of such a song shows Singapore’s familiarity with Taiwan’s culture and is a perfect reflection of exchanges between the two nations, Representative to Singapore Tung Chen-yuan (童振源) said yesterday in a post on Facebook. Wong quoted the song, saying: “As the rain gets heavier, I will take care of you, and you,” in Mandarin, using it as a metaphor for Singaporeans coming together to face challenges. Other Singaporean politicians have also used Taiwanese songs
NORTHERN STRIKE: Taiwanese military personnel have been training ‘in strategic and tactical battle operations’ in Michigan, a former US diplomat said More than 500 Taiwanese troops participated in this year’s Northern Strike military exercise held at Lake Michigan by the US, a Pentagon-run news outlet reported yesterday. The Michigan National Guard-sponsored drill involved 7,500 military personnel from 36 nations and territories around the world, the Stars and Stripes said. This year’s edition of Northern Strike, which concluded on Sunday, simulated a war in the Indo-Pacific region in a departure from its traditional European focus, it said. The change indicated a greater shift in the US armed forces’ attention to a potential conflict in Asia, it added. Citing a briefing by a Michigan National Guard senior
CHIPMAKING INVESTMENT: J.W. Kuo told legislators that Department of Investment Review approval would be needed were Washington to seek a TSMC board seat Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) yesterday said he received information about a possible US government investment in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and an assessment of the possible effect on the firm requires further discussion. If the US were to invest in TSMC, the plan would need to be reviewed by the Department of Investment Review, Kuo told reporters ahead of a hearing of the legislature’s Economics Committee. Kuo’s remarks came after US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Tuesday said that the US government is looking into the federal government taking equity stakes in computer chip manufacturers that
CLAMPING DOWN: At the preliminary stage on Jan. 1 next year, only core personnel of the military, the civil service and public schools would be subject to inspections Regular checks are to be conducted from next year to clamp down on military personnel, civil servants and public-school teachers with Chinese citizenship or Chinese household registration, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. Article 9-1 of the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) stipulates that Taiwanese who obtain Chinese household registration or a Chinese passport would be deprived of their Taiwanese citizenship and lose their right to work in the military, public service or public schools, it said. To identify and prevent the illegal employment of holders of Chinese ID cards or
RSS