KIBATI, Congo – Rebels and pro-government militiamen executed civilians this week in two waves of terror that the top U.N envoy to Congo said Saturday amount to war crimes — ones that highlight the inability of undermanned U.N. peacekeepers to protect civilians.

Meanwhile, Congo’s army advanced toward rebel lines Saturday, with renewed fighting near the provincial capital of Goma threatening a fragile cease-fire.

Fighting broke out Friday near Kibati, about six miles (10 kilometers) north of Goma. By Saturday morning the army had moved more than half a mile (at least one kilometer) north into a no man’s land that had been unpatrolled since the rebels called a cease-fire 10 days ago after routing the army.

U.N. envoy Alan Doss said “war crimes that we cannot tolerate” were committed at Kiwanja, by rebel leader Laurent Nkunda’s fighters and by Mai Mai militiamen supporting the government.

U.N. investigators on Friday visited 11 graves containing what villagers said were 26 bodies, U.N. spokeswoman Sylvie van den Wildenberg said. New York-based Human Rights Watch said the death toll could be higher.

“We are getting reports of more than 50 dead, but we are still in the process of confirming that information,” Anneke Van Woudenberg, a researcher with Human Rights Watch, told The Associated Press.

Van den Wildenberg and Dietrich said it appeared the rebels committed many more executions than the militia.

U.N. peacekeepers have a well-established base in Kiwanja, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of Goma, but it has only 120 soldiers in the town of 30,000 to 50,000.

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written by Andrew

MADRID, Spain (CNN) — One of Osama bin Laden’s sons has been denied asylum in Spain, an Interior Ministry spokeswoman told CNN on Wednesday.

Omar bin Laden, who is in his late 20s, stepped off a plane at Madrid’s Barajas International Airport during a stopover late Monday and informed authorities that he planned to request political asylum, the spokeswoman said.

Bin Laden has publicly called on his father to abandon terrorism.

He prepared his formal asylum request Tuesday at the airport with the help of a translator, filing it around 1 p.m., the spokeswoman said.

The Interior Ministry, which had 72 hours to reply to the request, was required to seek the opinion of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees on the matter. The UNHCR recommended against granting asylum, the spokeswoman said Wednesday.

No reason was given for the denial.

It was not immediately known what grounds bin Laden gave for his request, and the spokeswoman said it is unlikely to be disclosed.

His flight Monday originated in Cairo, Egypt, and landed in Madrid on its way to Casablanca, Morocco, she said. The request caught Spanish authorities by surprise, she said.

Bin Laden, who is married to a British citizen, previously was denied asylum in Britain. He holds a Saudi passport.

Since Spain has denied his request, bin Laden has 24 hours to appeal before he is put on a plane back to Cairo, the spokeswoman said. If he appeals, the Spanish government has 48 hours to rule on it.

Last year, 7,664 people requested asylum in Spain. The government granted that status to only 570, the spokeswoman said.

Source: CNN.com

written by Andrew

PARIS – Barack Obama’s election as America’s first black president unleashed a renewed love for the United States after years of dwindling goodwill, and many said Wednesday that U.S. voters had blazed a trail that minorities elsewhere could follow.

People across Africa stayed up all night or woke before dawn to watch U.S. history being made, while the president of Kenya — where Obama’s father was born — declared a public holiday.

In Indonesia, where Obama lived as child, hundreds of students at his former elementary school erupted in cheers when he was declared winner and poured into the courtyard where they hugged each other, danced in the rain and chanted “Obama! Obama!”

“Your victory has demonstrated that no person anywhere in the world should not dare to dream of wanting to change the world for a better place,” South Africa’s first black president, Nelson Mandela, said in a letter of congratulations to Obama.

Many expressed amazement and satisfaction that the United States could overcome centuries of racial strife and elect an African-American as president.

Source: yahoo.com

written by Andrew

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba – A video maker for Osama bin Laden who vowed that al-Qaida will never stop fighting America was sentenced to life in prison Monday for encouraging terrorist attacks.

A jury of nine military officers deliberated for just under an hour before condemning Ali Hamza al-Bahlul at Guantanamo’s second war-crimes trial. Al-Bahlul was convicted of 35 counts of conspiracy, solicitation to commit murder and providing material support for terrorism.

The military has not said where he will serve his sentence.

The 39-year-old Yemeni defiantly admitted joining al-Qaida, accused the U.S. of oppressing Muslims for 50 years and said “we will fight any government that governs America.”

“We are the only ones on Earth who stand against you,” al-Bahlul said, adding that the U.S. has only itself to blame for the Sept. 11 attacks.

“Whoever said this happened out of nowhere is an idiot,” he said. “You have started the war against us.”

The lead prosecutor, Army Maj. Daniel Cowhig, said al-Balhul has shown no remorse or regret.

“When will it be safe for this man to leave confinement? Never,” Cowhig said.

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ZIARAT, Pakistan – A Pakistani official says the death toll from the earthquake in southwestern Pakistan will likely rise to more than 300.

Provincial government minister Zamrak Khan says that 215 deaths have been confirmed, but adds Friday that officials were receiving reports of more deaths from more remote areas and that the toll would likely top 300.

A 6.4-magnitude earthquake struck an impoverished region of Pakistan’s Baluchistan province before dawn Wednesday, demolishing some 3,000 houses.

Source: yahoo.com

written by Andrew

HOUSTON – An aging cruise ship could become temporary housing for Hurricane Ike refugees if Texas officials can navigate through the federal government’s paperwork.

Federal Emergency Management Agency officials said they had not received a formal request for funds to use the ship and that a state agency’s e-mail to a FEMA administrator did not follow protocol for making such a request.

Simon Chabel, a spokesman in FEMA’s joint field office in Austin, said the request must go through the state’s department of emergency management and be made on a specific form.

“This process exists so we can ensure that the state is speaking with one voice when they asked us for things,” Chabel said.

The 1950s-era Regal Empress, with up to 1,200 available beds, left port in Galveston on Thursday and dropped anchor about 10 miles offshore, said Jim Bourke, the ship’s agent. A port official said the ship had to leave to make room for others arriving this weekend.

The crew will wait until Monday to find out if the ship’s next destination is Port Orange, about 100 miles up the Texas coast, or the Bahamas, where it would resume round-trip cruises to Florida in December, Bourke said.

About 3,000 displaced victims are seeking shelter in southeast Texas where the state would like to put the cruise ship to use, said Michael Gerber, Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs executive director.

“We were identifying an option, and I stated the state’s interest that we wanted FEMA to explore it,” he said. “If there are forms to fill out, I’m sure FEMA will let us know what those forms are.”

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WAM, Pakistan – The death toll from an earthquake that devastated an impoverished valley in southwestern Pakistan rose to 215 on Thursday, a provincial official said, as authorities scrambled to help survivors sleeping in the frigid mountains.

The 6.4 magnitude quake hit an area of Pakistan’s Baluchistan province near the Afghan frontier before dawn on Wednesday, demolishing an estimated 2,000 homes in a string of villages.

Officials on Thursday declared the rescue phase of the operation over after residents and emergency workers mounted a final search for survivors or bodies buried in the rubble.

With reports still coming in from outlying areas, provincial government minister Zamrak Khan said the toll had risen to 215 and noted that hospitals were still treating dozens of seriously injured people.

The quake left an estimated 15,000 people homeless in the hard-hit Ziarat district, triggering a relief effort that saw the army airlifting supplies and medical teams into the region.

Officials said several thousand people spent Wednesday night in tents in camps erected by the military. However, they failed to reach all the outlying areas before temperatures plunged to around freezing.

In the hillside hamlet of Kawas, dozens of people slept in the open near the rubble of their simple mud and stone houses.

“We passed the night shivering and with the children crying. There were five of us wrapped in one blanket,” said Ala Uddin, a 30-year-old farmer camped with about 15 relatives in an apple orchard.

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VATICAN CITY (AP) – Pope Benedict XVI decried the killing of Christians in Iraq and India and appealed Sunday for political and religious leaders to defend them.

In India, anti-Christian riots and rampages by Hindu extremists have claimed at least 38 lives since late August, destroying dozen of churches and leaving as many as 30,000 people homeless.

Attacks against Christians and other minorities in Iraq had tapered off amid a drastic decline in overall violence nationwide before some 13,000 Christians were chased away by threats and extremist attacks in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul in recent weeks, according to the U.N.

Sunni extremists are believed to be behind the campaign.

The pope reiterated a call for “religious leaders and to all men and women of good will about the tragedy that is developing in some Asian countries, where Christians are victims of intolerance and cruel violence, killed, threatened and forced to abandon their homes and wander about in search of refuge.”

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CHICAGO, Illinois (CNN) — Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Hudson identified the bodies of her mother and brother, who were killed last week in Chicago, the Cook County medical examiner’s office told CNN on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Chicago police are handing out fliers as part of a massive search for Hudson’s nephew.

Julian King, 7, has not been seen since Friday, the same day Hudson’s mother, Darnell Donerson, and brother, Jason Hudson, were found shot to death in their South Side Chicago home.

Police confirm they have taken a person into custody but are not saying who. Watch the latest on the Hudson case »

News reports, however, say that person is Jennifer Hudson’s brother-in-law, William Balfour. Balfour’s mother has also acknowledged her son has been questioned about the shootings.

Chicago news station WLS reported Saturday that Julian was not with Balfour when he was detained.

Police say they have transferred the person in custody to the Illinois Department of Corrections for a parole violation.

According to the Department of Corrections, Balfour, 27, is on parole. He spent nearly seven years in prison for attempted murder, vehicular hijacking and possessing a stolen vehicle.

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written by Andrew

DAMASCUS, Syria – U.S. military helicopters launched an extremely rare attack Sunday on Syrian territory close to the border with Iraq, killing eight people in a strike the government in Damascus condemned as “serious aggression.”

A U.S. military official said the raid by special forces targeted the foreign fighter network that travels through Syria into Iraq. The Americans have been unable to shut the network down in the area because Syria was out of the military’s reach.

“We are taking matters into our own hands,” the official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the political sensitivity of cross-border raids.

The attack came just days after the commander of U.S. forces in western Iraq said American troops were redoubling efforts to secure the Syrian border, which he called an “uncontrolled” gateway for fighters entering Iraq.

A Syrian government statement said the helicopters attacked the Sukkariyeh Farm near the town of Abu Kamal, five miles inside the Syrian border. Four helicopters attacked a civilian building under construction shortly before sundown and fired on workers inside, the statement said.

The government said civilians were among the dead, including four children.

A resident of the nearby village of Hwijeh said some of the helicopters landed and troops exited the aircraft and fired on a building. He said the aircraft flew along the Euphrates River into the area of farms and several brick factories. The witness spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information,

Syria’s Foreign Ministry said it summoned the charges d’affaires of the United States and Iraq to protest against the strike.

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written by Andrew