Sunday, August 23, 2009
Sunday, June 7, 2009
5 U.S Security Contractors Arrested by Iraqi Forces
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraqi forces detained five U.S. security contractors in connection with the killing of a fellow American contractor last month in Baghdad's Green Zone, an Iraqi government spokesman said on Sunday.
Major General Abdul-Karim Khalaf, the Interior Ministry spokesman, said the five men were being held at an Iraqi police station in the capital's heavily-fortified central district while a joint Iraqi-U.S. committee investigated.
The detainees could become the first Americans to face local justice since a bilateral security pact came into force at the start of this year making U.S. contractors subject to Iraqi law.
"There are no formal charges against them so far, but they were detained because of the murder of the contractor last month," .
Citing an unnamed Iraqi official involved in the investigation,The men had been detained on Friday in a pre-dawn raid on their company's office in the Green Zone.
The murdered contractor, James Kitterman, was a 60-year-old Texan who owned a construction company operating in Iraq.Kitterman was found bound, blindfolded and stabbed to death on May 22 in the heavily-fortified district.
Major General Abdul-Karim Khalaf, the Interior Ministry spokesman, said the five men were being held at an Iraqi police station in the capital's heavily-fortified central district while a joint Iraqi-U.S. committee investigated.
The detainees could become the first Americans to face local justice since a bilateral security pact came into force at the start of this year making U.S. contractors subject to Iraqi law.
"There are no formal charges against them so far, but they were detained because of the murder of the contractor last month," .
Citing an unnamed Iraqi official involved in the investigation,The men had been detained on Friday in a pre-dawn raid on their company's office in the Green Zone.
The murdered contractor, James Kitterman, was a 60-year-old Texan who owned a construction company operating in Iraq.Kitterman was found bound, blindfolded and stabbed to death on May 22 in the heavily-fortified district.
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Peruvian police killed
Nine Peruvian policemen seized by Amazonian indigenous protesters have been killed during a rescue bid which freed 22 others, officials say.
A further seven were still missing after the military moved to free them from protesters angry at plans to drill for oil and gas on ancestral land.
The hostages were taken on Friday during clashes near Bagua which left at least 22 tribesmen and 11 police dead.
A police official accused the protesters of killing the hostages.
This is the worst violence in Peru since the end of the Shining Path insurgency in the 1990s and the biggest internal challenge faced by President Alan Garcia since he came to power in 2006, the BBC's Americas editor Emilio San
Peruvian police chief Miguel Hidalgo said that the 38 officers had been captured at a petrol facility they were defending in the area about 1,400 km (870 miles) north of Lima, the capital."Of the 38, 22 have been rescued by the army, nine have died at the hands of the natives and seven have disappeared," he told Peruvian radio station RPP.
Speaking before the rescue operation, Peruvian Prime Minister Yehude Simon accused the protesters of a "plot against democracy". He said the 38 policemen had been held hostage by about 1,000 protesters but the army had had them surrounded.
The authorities said there had been five civilian deaths and more than 100 injuries. But indigenous leaders said at least 25 protesters had been killed.
Eyewitnesses in the northern city of Jaen told the BBC they believed the number of dead to be even higher.
Friday's violence erupted as police tried to dislodge protesters from a major road which they had been blocking
A further seven were still missing after the military moved to free them from protesters angry at plans to drill for oil and gas on ancestral land.
The hostages were taken on Friday during clashes near Bagua which left at least 22 tribesmen and 11 police dead.
A police official accused the protesters of killing the hostages.
This is the worst violence in Peru since the end of the Shining Path insurgency in the 1990s and the biggest internal challenge faced by President Alan Garcia since he came to power in 2006, the BBC's Americas editor Emilio San
Peruvian police chief Miguel Hidalgo said that the 38 officers had been captured at a petrol facility they were defending in the area about 1,400 km (870 miles) north of Lima, the capital."Of the 38, 22 have been rescued by the army, nine have died at the hands of the natives and seven have disappeared," he told Peruvian radio station RPP.
Speaking before the rescue operation, Peruvian Prime Minister Yehude Simon accused the protesters of a "plot against democracy". He said the 38 policemen had been held hostage by about 1,000 protesters but the army had had them surrounded.
The authorities said there had been five civilian deaths and more than 100 injuries. But indigenous leaders said at least 25 protesters had been killed.
Eyewitnesses in the northern city of Jaen told the BBC they believed the number of dead to be even higher.
Friday's violence erupted as police tried to dislodge protesters from a major road which they had been blocking
Friday, June 5, 2009
Berlusconi Angered by naked Photos
Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi has reacted angrily to the publication in Spain of photographs showing topless women and a naked man at his villa.
He has threatened to sue Spain's El Pais newspaper, calling the photos an invasion of privacy.
The photos - banned in Italy on privacy grounds - were taken from outside Mr Berlusconi's villa in Sardinia during a party for a Czech delegation.
He also faces a probe for using state aircraft to fly guests to Sardinia.
The prime minister is said to have used Italian aircraft to ferry guests to and from Villa Certosa, "almost every weekend" between the summer of 2007 and January of this year, El Pais reports.
Mr Berlusconi is being investigated for misuse of public funds, and confirmed on Thursday that he had been formally placed under investigation by prosecutors.
But he said the probe would be "swiftly shelved", insisting he was allowed to transport "people he needs" for security reasons.
He has threatened to sue Spain's El Pais newspaper, calling the photos an invasion of privacy.
The photos - banned in Italy on privacy grounds - were taken from outside Mr Berlusconi's villa in Sardinia during a party for a Czech delegation.
He also faces a probe for using state aircraft to fly guests to Sardinia.
The prime minister is said to have used Italian aircraft to ferry guests to and from Villa Certosa, "almost every weekend" between the summer of 2007 and January of this year, El Pais reports.
Mr Berlusconi is being investigated for misuse of public funds, and confirmed on Thursday that he had been formally placed under investigation by prosecutors.
But he said the probe would be "swiftly shelved", insisting he was allowed to transport "people he needs" for security reasons.
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