Need to know: A Somali man was flown to the United States to stand trial on terrorism charges after being held for months aboard a U.S. Navy ship. He was never read his rights. The man is believed to have links to terror leaders but has not been directly involved in the planning of any attacks. Holding the man for months, as well as secretly flying him to the United States, will likely reopen the debate about how the United States treats its terrorism suspects. A U.S. official said the questioning of the suspect was conducted under the rules of the U.S. Army Field Manual, which places strict limits on interrogation techniques. Members of the so-called High Value Interrogation Group - made up of CIA, FBI and Defence Department staff - interrogated him, an official said. Government forces in Yemen, meanwhile, claim they have killed more than 40 Al Qaeda militants in two days of bombings in the southern part of the country. The country's state news agency reported that the fighters had tried to take over a military camp in Abyan province. Militants have been gaining ground in southern Yemen since anti-government protests began in February, destabilizing the government. But some question whether Yemen's president purposely ceded ground to Al Qaeda to curry support from the United States and other allies in the war on terror. |
| Want to know: Amnesty International, a human rights group, says that it has collected evidence that the Syrian government committed crimes against humanity last month when it tortured and massacred civilians in a town near the Lebanese border. The report says that security forces rounded up males, imprisoned and tortured them. At least nine were killed. Security forces have also opened fire on protesters in Hama, killing at least eleven people. The News of the World, the British tabloid owned by Rupert Murdock, has been hacking the phones of family's whose relatives died in the 7/7 London terrorist bombing. This revelation comes after the paper was accused of hacking the phone of a missing girl, even deleting messages from her answering machine to make way for new ones, giving her family, who assumed she was still using her phone, false hope. Earlier the paper had been caught hacking the phones of celebrities. The newest revelations could have far reaching implications. |
| Dull but important: Who are these international credit rating agencies that always seem to to stir up trouble at the worst of times? Several agencies released their grim downgrades at the height of the Greek debt crisis, worsening the affair considerably and rattling markets around the world. One agency, Moody's, downgraded Portugal's rating on Tuesday, leading to condemnations from the European Commission. The Commission said the timing of the downgrade was "questionable" and raised the issue of the "appropriateness of behavior" of the agencies in general. The Greek prime minister had earlier said the actions of the ratings agency's were "madness." |
| Just because: As Hugo Chavez boarded a plane early Monday for his return to Caracas, he stood on the tarmac with Raul Castro and offered some parting words of reassurance: "Venezuela and Cuba are the same thing, the same country," he said. And that, precisely, is what's at stake for Cuba with Chavez now battling cancer. Billions in Venezuelan subsidies to the island - and other regional left-leaning allies - are riding on his recovery. A politically charged trial in South Africa is drawing new attention after explosive allegations were made that the Rwandan government sent out agents to assassinate critics in foreign countries. The case centers on the attempted murder of a former Rwandan military general who fled into exile in South Africa after falling out with Rwandan President Paul Kagame. |
| Wacky: Don't hate Kim Pyong Il because he's beautiful. Rather, don't hate him because he looks like his dad. He can't help it. Kim Pyong Il, Kim Jong Il's half-brother and North Korea's current ambassador to Poland, is reportedly being held under house arrest in Pyongyang. Why? Because he looks a lot like his father, Kim Il Sung, the North's founding leader. This is a problem because Kim Jong Un, the son and likely successor of Kim Jong Il, has been in the business of trying to look like Kim Il Sung himself (some even say he's gotten plastic surgery to seal the deal). It would look bad if someone who wasn't even trying did a better job, wouldn't it? |
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