■ United States
Abuser wants Cheney to talk
An American woman soldier at the center of the Iraqi prison abuse scandal has asked that US Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld testify on her behalf, her attorneys said on Thursday. The soldier, Private Lynndie England, 21, is due to appear at a preliminary hearing in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, where she is based, on June 22. England appeared in at least two notorious photographs taken at Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad. England's lawyer, Rose Mary Zapor, said that Cheney and Rumsfeld were on a list of more than 130 people that the defense would like to call as witnesses. Zapor said England's defense that she was only following orders could be bolstered by Rumsfeld and Cheney.
■ Guatemala
Six die in kidnap rescue
Police shot and killed six kidnappers on Thursday in an operation to rescue an abducted university student from a house in the Guatemalan highlands, the government said. Student Irma Alejandra Molina, found tied and blindfolded at a house in a corn field just outside the village of Agua Tibia, was rescued during the shootout. "There was a battle ... the criminals fired at the police, and the information that we have is that there are six dead," Deputy Interior Minister Angel Conte told local radio. Molina's family did not pay a US$300,000 ransom.
■ Chile
Pipeline bombed
More than 20,000 liters of oil has been lost following a bomb attack on a pipeline in southern Chile, reported officials on Thursday. The pipeline was damaged near Talcahuano in Bio-Bio province, 500km south of Santiago. The bomb probably exploded the night before, but the decrease in pressure wasn't noticed until the following day, it was reported. Oil from the Argentine province of Neuquen is pumped by the pipeline to Chile.
RSS