Opponents of the US policy of detaining terrorism suspects without giving them access to legal counsel urged the US to follow up its release of five Britons with the return of all the estimated 660 people detained at the US Navy base in Guantanamo, Cuba to their home countries.
British actor Corin Redgrave, co-founder of the Guantanamo Human Rights Commission, came to the UN Wednesday with relatives of three detainees to demand justice for all those being held, a day after the US sent five British detainees home from the US military's prison camp at Guantanamo Bay. One was released immediately by British authorities and the other four were freed late Wednesday.
The US Supreme Court will hear arguments next month from lawyers representing foreign-born "enemy combatants" being held incommunicado in open-ended custody at Guantanamo Bay. At issue is whether the prisoners can challenge their detention in US courts.
US Attorney General John Ashcroft said that designating the detainees as enemy combatants "is a vital part of the war on terrorism," that the Supreme Court should reaffirm.
Redgrave, the relatives and Michael Ratner, president of the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights, a civil liberties legal group that represents several detainees in the Supreme Court case, want immediate action -- and the closure of the Guantanamo military prison.
"It is a total denial of human rights," Redgrave said of the US policy.
"Our message is therefore very clear: Every detainee in Guantanamo must be repatriated forthwith to their countries," Redgrave said.
If there is evidence, the detainee should be tried in a proper court with due process and punished if found guilty, he said, but if there is no evidence he should be freed.
"We are very, very, confident that ... they will be free," Redgrave said.
Ratner said US President George W. Bush's administration appeared to be playing favorites by releasing detainees from countries that have supported the US in Iraq and elsewhere, like Britain.
"Those who are friends of the US" are getting out, but the French, "because of their position in the war, got nobody out," he said.
US officials have said they have wide legal latitude to interrogate the detainees for an extended period since national security is at risk.
Young Chinese, many who fear age discrimination in their workplace after turning 35, are increasingly starting “one-person companies” that have artificial intelligence (AI) do most of the work. Smaller start-ups are already in vogue in Silicon Valley and elsewhere, with rapidly advancing AI tools seen as a welcome teammate even as they threaten layoffs at existing firms. More young people in China are subscribing to the model, as cities pledge millions of dollars in funding and rent subsidies for such ventures, in alignment with Beijing’s political goal of “technological self-reliance.” “The one-person company is a product of the AI era,” said Karen Dai
South Korea’s air force yesterday apologized for a 2021 midair collision involving two fighter jets, a day after auditors said the pilots were taking selfies and filming during the flight and held them responsible for the accident. “We sincerely apologize to the public for the concern caused by the accident that occurred in 2021,” an air force spokesman told a news conference, adding that one of the pilots involved had been suspended from flying duties, received severe disciplinary action and has since left the military. The apology followed a report released on Wednesday by the South Korean Board of Audit and Inspection,
About 240 Indians claiming descent from a Biblical tribe landed at Tel Aviv airport on Thursday as part of a government operation to relocate them to Israel. The newcomers passed under a balloon arch in blue and white, the colors of the Israeli flag, as dozens of well-wishers welcomed them with a traditional Jewish song. They were the first “bnei Menashe” (“sons of Manasseh”) to arrive in Israel since the government in November last year announced funding for the immigration of about 6,000 members of the community from the states of Manipur and Mizoram in northeast India. The community claims to descend from
‘TROUBLING’: The firing of Phelan, who was an adviser to a nonprofit that supported the defense of Taiwan, was another example of ‘dysfunction’ under Trump, a US senator said US Secretary of the Navy John Phelan has been fired, a US official and a person familiar with the matter said on Wednesday, in another wartime shakeup at the Pentagon coming just weeks after US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ousted the Army’s top general. The Pentagon announced his departure in a brief statement, saying he was leaving the administration “effective immediately,” but it did not provide a reason or say whether it was his decision to go. The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Phelan was dismissed in part because he was moving too slowly to implement reforms to
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