SPAIN
Basque leader guilty of terror
A Madrid court convicted a prominent Basque separatist of terrorism on Friday and sentenced him to 10 years in prison for trying to resurrect the banned political wing of the militant group ETA. Arnaldo Otegi, former leader of the outlawed Batasuna party, can appeal the conviction handed down by the National Court. Four other suspects were also convicted, and three were acquitted. Otegi served 15 months for an ETA-related offense and was freed in 2008, then re-arrested in 2009 over the current case and has been in prison since then awaiting trial. Batasuna was banned in 2003 on the grounds it is part of ETA, which has killed 829 people since the late 1960s in a campaign of bombings and shootings aimed at achieving an independent Basque homeland.
LATVIA
Historic snap election held
Voting stations yesterday opened in a snap parliamentary election that could see a pro-Russia party emerge the winner for the first time in 20 years since the Baltic state restored independence. Polls indicate that the leftist Harmony Center representing the country’s large ethnic Russian minority could muster up to one-third of the seats in the nation’s legislature. However, two center-right parties in second and third place in pre-election surveys are likely to join forces to prevent the leftists from gaining the upper hand in coalition negotiations. The election was held after the previous legislature was dissolved in a nationwide referendum in July.
FINLAND
Two terror suspects arrested
Authorities in Helsinki have arrested two people on suspicion of financing terrorism and terror recruitment, police said on Friday. The detentions were the first known terror-linked arrests in the Nordic country. The two suspects were arrested on Sept. 7 and are in jail, the National Bureau of Investigation said in a statement. Security officials carried out “a lengthy investigation” prior to the arrests, the statement said. It did not specify where the suspects were picked up, but said that afterward officers uncovered evidence in the Helsinki metropolitan area.
KOSOVO
EU flies forces to border
EU police used helicopters to ferry staff sent to take charge of border crossings in the north after minority Serbs blocked main roads in anger over Kosovo’s efforts to take over customs posts, an EU official said on Friday. People and supplies were being flown in and out of the border area in the Serb-dominated north, EU rule of law mission spokesman Nicholas Hawton said, but trade is resuming between Kosovo and Serbia for the first time since violent border disputes in July that left a policeman dead.
UNITED KINGDOM
Airport unveils futuristic pods
Laser-guided travel pods that work without drivers or timetables were officially unveiled at London’s Heathrow airport on Friday. The system, which featured in an exhibition on the future of transport at London’s Science Museum in 2009, has become a reality, reducing the time it takes business passengers to move from terminal to car park by 60 percent. Traveling at speeds up to 40kph, after an average wait of just 34 seconds, the system looks like something straight from a science fiction film. The pods, which run along tracks and allow passengers to select their destinations, use laser sensors to ferry business passengers and their luggage along a 3.8km route.
JAPAN
Quake near ravaged area
A magnitude 6.6 undersea quake and a series of aftershocks hit off the coast of Honshu Island yesterday, not far from the area ravaged by a huge March quake and tsunami, geologists said. There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties and no widespread tsunami warning, although the initial earthquake was followed by five more quakes of magnitude 5 or above, one of them measuring 6.2. The US Geological Survey said the first, 36.2km deep quake, hit 108km east-southeast of the coastal town of Hachinohe, 574km from Tokyo, at 4:26am.
THAILAND
Troops ‘involved’ in death
An agency yesterday said troops were “involved” in the deaths of a Japanese cameraman and 12 civilians during an army crackdown on rallies in Bangkok last year and called for new inquiries. In a significant change in stance since saying in February that soldiers were not to blame for the death of Hiroyuki Muramoto of Reuters news agency, the Department of Special Investigation said it had sent the case back to police for investigation. This is the first department statement on the high-profile case since a new government allied to the “Red Shirts” came to power last month.
CAMBODIA
Leader welcomes Thaksin
Prime Minister Hun Sen welcomed fugitive former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra for talks yesterday, just two days after hosting Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, Thaksin’s sister. Hun Sen and Thaksin hugged and addressed each other as “brother” when they met yesterday morning at the Cabinet’s office. Thaksin, who arrived late on Friday night, is also scheduled to deliver a lecture on economic development and play golf during his scheduled week-long stay. The warm relationship between the two men contrasts with frosty ties between their two nations since Thaksin was ousted in a 2006 military coup.
CHINA
Hospital births cut deaths
The death rate of newborn babies has been slashed by almost two-thirds in 12 years by promoting hospital births, research has shown. Deaths fell from 24.7 per 1,000 live births in 1996 to 9.3 in 2008. Only half of women gave birth in hospital at the start of that period, whereas by the end almost all did so outside the most deprived rural areas. The study published in the medical journal the Lancet was based on data from 37 urban districts and 79 rural counties. According to UN figures, the country has met its goal to reduce the under-five mortality rate by two-thirds between 1990 and 2015. It is also on course to reduce the maternal mortality ratio by three-quarters.
THAILAND
Dealers funded bombings
Authorities alleged yesterday that drug dealers had a hand in deadly coordinated bombings in the south that killed four people and wounded dozens. Police Colonel Jakraporn Thaenthong said the death toll from Friday night’s three bombs in the border town of Sungai Kolok climbed to four after a wounded victim died in hospital. “The attacks were in response to the authorities’ frequent crackdown on narcotics,” Jakraporn said. He said that since the new government took office last month, police have seized about 100,000 methamphetamine tablets in Narathiwat Province, where Sungai Kolok is located. He said the latest anti-drug crackdown in the area took place on Wednesday.
BRAZIL
Officials avoid Dalai Lama
The Dalai Lama brought his message of global tolerance to Sao Paulo on Friday, but no government officials attended the meetings by the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, whose trips are closely watched by China, the nation’s top trading partner. The Dalai Lama’s three-day visit to Sao Paulo, which was scheduled to finish yesterday after a public speech in a city stadium, was notable for the conspicuous absence of any officials. That was different from the Dalai Lama’s previous stop, in Mexico City, where he last week met with Mexican President Felipe Calderon, to Beijing’s outrage.
HAITI
PM nominee approved
Lawmaker Saurel Jacinth said Garry Conille, a former aide to former US president Bill Clinton was approved as the nation’s next prime minister by an 89 to 0 vote in the Chamber of Deputies on Friday. The nomination now goes to the Senate for a vote which is expected on Tuesday. President Michel Martelly’s administration has been without a prime minister for four months. Martelly’s first two picks were rejected and many reconstruction efforts from last year’s earthquake have been on hold.
VENEZUELA
More chemo for Chavez
President Hugo Chavez said he would likely undergo a fourth round of chemotherapy to treat his cancer today, expressing confidence it would be the last before his “full recovery.” Chavez, who had a tumor removed on June 20 in Havana, Cuba, has insisted he is cancer-free and convalescing, but little information has been released about the type of cancer he has or his medical condition. Chavez underwent his first two rounds of chemotherapy in Havana, where doctors discovered the cancer after operating on him for an abdominal abscess. He concluded a third round at a local military hospital on Sept. 2. Chavez said he was confident he would be “fully recovered” to host a summit of Latin American and Caribbean leaders on Dec. 2 and 3 in Caracas.
UNITED STATES
Museum hosts bug food
Which wine goes best with mealworms and crickets? The annual contest at a North Carolina museum may help answer the question. The North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences is hosting its annual BugFest Critter Cook-off on Friday. It marks the official start to BugFest 2011. Chef Jim Long, executive sous chef at the Angus Barn, will compete against chef Michael Lee, executive chef of Sono Sushi for the title of BugFest Critter Cook-off champion. The chefs will have 50 minutes to create an appetizer, entree, dessert and mystery dish using mealworms, wax worms, crickets, super worms and a “mystery” bug. Each dish will be judged on taste, originality and presentation.
VENEZUELA
Rights court nixes ban
Opposition politician Leopoldo Lopez said on Friday that the Inter-American Court of Human Rights had sided with him by ordering the nation to lift a decision barring him from running for the presidency. Lopez announced the decision on his Twitter account, saying “justice was done.” His allies celebrated the decision at a news conference. Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro said the authorities would study the court’s decision before responding. Lopez, a former Caracas district mayor, was barred from running for office in 2005 by the country’s top anti-corruption official, the comptroller general. He challenged the decision, arguing his rights were violated.
MINERAL DEPOSITS: The Pacific nation is looking for new foreign partners after its agreement with Canada’s Metals Co was terminated ‘mutually’ at the end of last year Pacific nation Kiribati says it is exploring a deep-sea mining partnership with China, dangling access to a vast patch of Pacific Ocean harboring coveted metals and minerals. Beijing has been ramping up efforts to court Pacific nations sitting on lucrative seafloor deposits of cobalt, nickel and copper — recently inking a cooperation deal with Cook Islands. Kiribati opened discussions with Chinese Ambassador Zhou Limin (周立民) after a longstanding agreement with leading deep-sea mining outfit The Metals Co fell through. “The talk provides an exciting opportunity to explore potential collaboration for the sustainable exploration of the deep-ocean resources in Kiribati,” the government said
Romania’s electoral commission on Saturday excluded a second far-right hopeful, Diana Sosoaca, from May’s presidential election, amid rising tension in the run-up to the May rerun of the poll. Earlier this month, Romania’s Central Electoral Bureau barred Calin Georgescu, an independent who was polling at about 40 percent ahead of the rerun election. Georgescu, a fierce EU and NATO critic, shot to prominence in November last year when he unexpectedly topped a first round of presidential voting. However, Romania’s constitutional court annulled the election after claims of Russian interference and a “massive” social media promotion in his favor. On Saturday, an electoral commission statement
Chinese authorities increased pressure on CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd over its plan to sell its Panama ports stake by sharing a second newspaper commentary attacking the deal. The Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office on Saturday reposted a commentary originally published in Ta Kung Pao, saying the planned sale of the ports by the Hong Kong company had triggered deep concerns among Chinese people and questioned whether the deal was harming China and aiding evil. “Why were so many important ports transferred to ill-intentioned US forces so easily? What kind of political calculations are hidden in the so-called commercial behavior on the
The head of Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic intelligence agency, was sacked yesterday, days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he no longer trusts him, and fallout from a report on the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack. “The Government unanimously approved Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s proposal to end ISA Director Ronen Bar’s term of office,” a statement said. He is to leave his post when his successor is appointed by April 10 at the latest, the statement said. Netanyahu on Sunday cited an “ongoing lack of trust” as the reason for moving to dismiss Bar, who joined the agency in 1993. Bar, meant to
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