■ United States
Green Party snubs Nader
Democratic Party activists were breathing a sigh of relief on Saturday after Ralph Nader, the consumer activist blamed for spoiling Democrat Al Gore's bid for the presidency in 2000, lost a bid for a third party endorsement. The Green Party snubbed Nader's bid for backing, the Chicago Tribune reported, denying him access to 22 state ballots where the Green Party will run. Nader had named Green Party activist Peter Camejo as his vice presidential candidate last week, in a bid for Green Party support.
■ United States
CIA halts harsh questioning
The CIA has stopped using interrogation techniques such as "stress positions," sleep deprivation and denial of pain medication while the Bush administration reviews their legality, The Washington Post said on Sunday. "The whole thing's been stopped until we can sort out whether we are sure we are on legal ground," the Post quoted a former senior CIA official as saying. The newspaper said the so-called enhanced interrogation techniques have been used in questioning al-Qaeda leaders. The suspension applies to CIA detention facilities around the world. Questioning of prisoners will continue, the newspaper said, but without use of the techniques.
■ United Kingdom
State trying to censor book
Britain's government is trying to censor a book by a former top adviser to Prime Minister Tony Blair that will reveal embarrassing details of the fiery relationship between Blair and Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown, the Sunday Telegraph newspaper reported yesterday. Cabinet Secretary Sir Andrew Turnbull is pressing Adam Scott -- Blair's chief economics adviser from 1997 until last December -- to remove large sections of his book on the grounds that they breach the Official Secrets Act. Scott's account of his time at Downing Street, Off Whitehall, is said to contain first-hand details of clashes between Blair and Brown.
■ Russia
Renewed violence feared
Police in the Russian republic of Ingushetia, bordering Chechnya, which was recently hit by deadly rebel attacks, have discovered several remote controled anti-tank shells ready to be used in fresh violence, a police official said yesterday. Police discovered and destroyed the shells on Saturday near the Ingush capital Magas, the Interfax-Yug news agency quoted the official as saying. A criminal inquiry has been launched, the official said, adding that a cache containing weapons had been discovered in Ingushetia on Friday. Between 200 and 300 fighters struck three towns in Ingushetia on Tuesday, targeting police stations, government buildings and checkpoints with automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades. The attack left nearly 100 people dead.
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