|
Congo 200 bodies Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.sltrib.com/2003/May/05212003/nation_w/58783.asphttp://www.sltrib.com/2003/May/05212003/nation_w/58783.asp
World Briefs
UNITED STATES
Judge enters plea of not guilty for Oklahoma bombing conspirator
OKLAHOMA CITY -- A judge entered a not guilty plea Tuesday on behalf of Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols, who faces trial on 162 state murder charges and a possible death sentence if convicted.
The defense asked for a trial date in January 2005, more than 1 1/2 years away.
"Everyone is wanting to move this thing along quickly," defense attorney Brian Hermanson said. "It is going to take a significant amount of time. We have to be careful that his rights be protected."
Prosecutors said they will be ready for trial by November or December and they plan to call 217 witnesses, more than half of them from outside Oklahoma.
District Judge Steven Taylor didn't rule on a trial date. He set the next hearing for May 30.
COLOMBIA
Authorities say soldiers pilfered millions in drug money from FARC
BOGOTA -- Colombian army soldiers stole millions of dollars in rebel drug money they found while searching for a mass grave deep in the country's southern jungles, authorities said.
The dozens of soldiers found the money last month in 10 underground containers, Gen. Carlos Ospina, chief of the army, said in a radio interview Tuesday, after first announcing the raid on Monday. The buried money was surrounded by land mines, one of which exploded and injured a soldier, Ospina said.
The area outside the southern city of San Vicente del Caguan was once a safe haven of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. Unconfirmed media reports spoke of about $14 million in stolen funds.
Officials became suspicious when members from the two companies quit after transferring to new posts, or simply deserted. Others bought pickup trucks and other items that are well beyond a soldier's budget.
CONGO
New evidence indicates fighters cannibalized victims in tribal clash
BUNIA -- New evidence of atrocities surfaced Tuesday in a northeastern Congo region that has been riven with tribal fighting, while French military officers arrived to assess deploying peacekeepers there.
Aid workers said Tuesday they had found 231 bodies of people killed since May 4 on the streets of Bunia, including women and children, some decapitated, others with their hearts, livers and lungs missing.
U.N. officials are already investigating reports that acts of cannibalism were carried out during the clashes. On Monday, church leaders and residents in Bunia said fighters killed civilians and combatants, cutting open their chests and ripping out hearts, livers and lungs, which they ate while they were still warm.
NETHERLANDS
War crimes tribunal gives extension to prosecutors in Milosevic case
THE HAGUE -- The U.N. war crimes tribunal gave prosecutors Tuesday 100 extra days to make their case against former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, probably delaying a verdict until well into 2005.
The tribunal also said prosecutors have struck a plea bargain with Dragan Obrenovic, a Bosnian Serb military engineer accused in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, the worst bloodshed in Europe since World War II.
In a published decision on Milosevic, the three-judge panel hearing his case said it sought to strike balance between letting the trial drag on too long and allowing the prosecution time to call all its witnesses.
Prosecutors had asked for 200 more days to present their case. But the court said 100 days should be enough.
INDONESIA
Dozens of rebels killed or captured in second day of military offensive
BANDA ACEH -- Indonesian troops killed or captured dozens of insurgents in its northwestern province of Aceh on Tuesday, the second day of a major offensive aimed at destroying a separatist rebellion. The guerrillas pledged "a drawn-out war."
In her first remarks about the offensive, President Megawati Sukarnoputri said she ordered the operation with a heavy heart and urged the country to back her.
Megawati signed a decree Sunday authorizing six months of martial law and ordering 30,000 government troops to crush about 5,000 poorly armed guerrillas in the oil- and gas-rich region.
World leaders, meanwhile, urged Jakarta to resume peace talks to end the fighting.
CANADA
Son of prime minister is cleared of three counts of sexual assault
YELLOWKNIFE, Northwest Territories -- A son of Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien was found innocent of three counts of sexual assault.
Michel Charles Chretien, 34, showed no emotion as the verdict was announced late Thursday, court officials said.
Chretien was arrested in July when a 19-year-old woman alleged that he assaulted her after a night of heavy drinking. The woman said Chretien had also assaulted her years ago when she was 10 or 11.
GERMANY
Teen who took four kids hostage is sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison
FRANKFURT -- A 17-year-old German was convicted and sentenced to 3 1/2 years in jail on Tuesday on charges of taking four children hostage at gunpoint at their school last fall.
A Stuttgart court said the teen, whose name was withheld because he is a minor, was aware of the consequences of his actions and was responsible for the pain he caused the children's parents.
The teen broke into his former school in a suburb of Stuttgart on Oct. 18 and threatened the four children, ages 11-14, with an air pistol.
MEXICO
Kidnapped child is found murdered in border city, authorities say
CHIHUAHUA -- A 9-year-old boy was kidnapped, tied up and murdered in the border city of Ciudad Juarez, officials said Tuesday.
Witnesses said two young men in a green car seized Ricardo Aquino Olivares on Saturday afternoon while he played soccer. His body was found early Monday in a vacant lot used as a trash dump.
The boy's throat had been slit, his hands were tied with a cable, and he was blindfolded with a bag over his head, Chihuahua state Justice Department spokesman Mauro Conde said.
The newspaper El Diario de Juarez reported that someone called the boy's family Saturday demanding $150,000 in ransom.
|
|
