Iraq posts may be obligatory
The State Department is warning diplomats they may be forced to serve in Iraq next year and says it will soon start identifying prime candidates for jobs at the Baghdad embassy and outlying provinces, according to a cable obtained by reporters on Tuesday. A similar call-up threat last year caused a revolt among foreign service officers who objected to compulsory work in a war zone, although in the end the State Department found enough volunteers to fill the jobs. Now, the department anticipates another staffing crisis. The unclassified April 8 cable says, “the prime candidate exercise will be repeated” next year, meaning the department will identify diplomats qualified to serve in Iraq and who could be forced to work there if they don’t volunteer.
■UNITED STATES
Fires spread in Colorado
Wildfires in warm, windy weather burned into a southeast Colorado town and on an army post, leading to the deaths of a firefighting pilot and two others. The pilot died when the crop duster-type plane crashed along a highway just east of Fort Carson, Mike Fergus of the Federal Aviation Administration said. At least 20 buildings were damaged in Ordway and about 29km² of grasslands were scorched around the town 196km southeast of Denver. The fire at Fort Carson has burned about 3,642 hectares.
■BRAZIL
Nine killed in Rio gunbattle
At least nine people were killed when a gunbattle erupted during a police drug raid on a Rio de Janeiro slum. The clashes, in which at least seven men were also injured, occurred on Tuesday in the Vila Cruzeiro slum in northern Rio, media reports said, citing government authorities. A police spokesman said all those killed were criminals. The raid, in which 15 people were arrested and 200 heavily armed officers took part, continued into the night, more than 12 hours after it had begun. It followed the deaths this month of 11 suspected criminals in a police raid on gangs in two Rio slums.
■CANADA
Police search party offices
Police searched offices of the Conservative party on Tuesday at the request of the election commission, which has accused the ruling party of campaign finance irregularities. Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservative party confirmed that its offices were searched. Elections Canada did not explain the reason for the search, but broadcaster CBC quoted Conservative House leader Peter Van Loan as saying the search was “in relation to the issue of the campaign financing questions and our approach on spending.” The commission launched a probe last year into what it believes were campaign finance irregularities. The body refused to reimburse close to US$1.2 million to candidates for television and radio campaign advertisements.
■SWEDEN
Man stuck in waste chute
For want of a key, a man tried to climb up a waste chute in an apartment building in the ski metropolis of Are and had to be freed after he got stuck halfway into the chute, reports said on Tuesday. The man managed to get his head and shoulders into the chute before the rest of his body got stuck in the chute opening, the online edition of the Ostersunds-Posten newspaper reported.
■FRANCE
Pirates arrive in Paris
Police say six Somali pirates who attacked a French luxury yacht have arrived in Paris for eventual trial. The six were brought to France aboard a military plane after French troops caught them after a chase last week in Somalia. The yacht’s 30-member crew was released after its owners apparently paid a ransom.
RSS