Police: Woman tried to cut out unborn baby
SUITLAND, Maryland – A pregnant woman was held at an apartment in a suburb of Washington, DC, for five days until she escaped after her captor tried to cut the unborn baby from her womb, police said yesterday. The victim, who was homeless, was expected to recover and her daughter was delivered by emergency Caesarean section, police said. Veronica Deramous, 40, was charged with attempted first-degree murder, false imprisonment and other related charges, said Officer Michelle Reedy, a spokeswoman for Prince George's County police.
Honduras' top anti-drugs official killed
TEGUCIGALPA – Suspected drug hitmen yesterday shot and killed Honduras' top anti-drugs official who recently had warned the country was in danger of becoming a "narco-state", police said. Julian Aristides, head of the government's drug control office, was gunned down in broad daylight in a central Tegucigalpa neighbourhood. The two gunmen, who were on a motorcycle, shot him in his car just after he had dropped his young daughter off at school, they said. Aristides, a former army general, had held the job for six years and was a public face for the Central American country's anti-drugs efforts.
Turkey tense as court considers party's fate
ANKARA – Turkey's highest court yesterday began final deliberations on a case seeking to shut down the main Kurdish party on charges of backing PKK rebels, a decision that could undermine government moves to boost rights for Kurds. The European Union has criticised the lawsuit against the Democratic Society Party (DTP), warning the EU candidate that banning the party would violate Kurdish rights. Analysts fear if the DTP is banned it would strengthen the hand of the militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) separatist group by undermining confidence in the democratic process and the government's current reform initiative.
Peaceful protest after two days of riots
ATHENS, Greece – More than 1,000 demonstrators chanting "Cops, Pigs, Murderers" have marched through central Athens on the third day of protests to mark the first anniversary of the police shooting of a teenage boy. Yesterday's march ended peacefully following two days of violent protests in Athens and other cities in which police detained more than 800 people. Authorities say 35 people were injured. Last year's fatal shooting of a 15-year-old boy sparked massive riots that lasted two weeks. More than 1,000 stores banks and other buildings were damaged in the 2008 riots and several hundred people were injured.
Former SS man confesses to killing civilians
BERLIN – An 88-year-old former SS death squad member admitted in a German court yesterday that he had killed three Dutch civilians in the Second World War but said he had been following orders. Heinrich Boere, who is on the Simon Wiesenthal Center's list of most wanted war crime suspects from the Second World War, went on trial in October in the western city of Aachen charged with the 1944 killings. Boere was captured by US forces in the Netherlands after the war and confessed to killing the three Dutch civilians when he was a member of an SS squad targetting anti-Nazi resistance fighters.
Man who killed girl in fire jailed for life
LONDON – A man who killed a three-year-old girl when he set fire to her home in revenge for the breakdown of a relationship with a member of her family was jailed for life yesterday. Francesca Bimpson was trapped after Graham Heaps set alight the house in Liverpool last December and died three weeks later from massive burns. Heaps, 44, harboured ill feelings towards the girl's family following the breakdown of his relationship with her aunt, Liverpool Crown Court heard. The labourer poured petrol and a naked flame through the letterbox of the home when Francesca and her family were sleeping.
UK believed weapons had been dismantled
LONDON – Britain believed Iraq had dismantled its chemical and biological weapons in the run-up to the 2003 invasion but thought it was possible they could be reassembled, the former head of the country's Joint Intelligence Committee said yesterday. John Scarlett, who chaired the committee from 2001 to 2004 before moving to MI6, Britain's foreign intelligence agency, told a panel of inquiry that it had long been believed that Iraq had been dismantling weapons in order to conceal them. Scarlett made the comments to a panel probing Britain's role in the Iraq war. The inquiry is most extensive look yet at the conflict, which was deeply unpopular in Britain, triggered huge protests and left 179 British soldiers dead.
Magnitude 5.9 quake hits Malawi
BLANTYRE – More houses collapsed in Malawi's northern Karonga District yesterday when earth tremors hit the southern African country for a third day yesterday. The US Geological Survey said a magnitude 5.9 quake, only 6.2 miles deep, struck the uranium-rich region early yesterday, following a series of quakes in the same area. Karonga District Assembly Chief Executive Officer Gasten Macheka said the tremors continued throughout the night.
Residents clash with rebels near capital
MOGADISHU – Residents of a Mogadishu suburb clashed with Hizbul Islam rebels yesterday after the insurgents artors burned tyres and chanted: "We don't want destructive Hizbul Islam. Down with them. They are destroyers". Hizbul officials later released the headmaster – but the situation degenerated as residents began shooting at them. On Monday, a group of Mogadishu residents attempted to protest against another rebel group, al Shabaab, which is blamed for a suicide bombing at a medical graduation ceremony last week that killed 22 people, including three government ministers.
US envoy in North Korea to push nuclear talks
SEOUL – US President Barack Obama's first envoy to North Korea arrived in Pyongyang yesterday to try to coax the prickly state back to the nuclear talks it quit a year ago, but without offering it any new incentives. Stephen Bosworth is scheduled to stay for three days and meet top North Korean officials, but not leader Kim Jong-il, for talks analysts see likely to lead to a pledge from Pyongyang to end its boycott of nuclear discussions but not to breakthroughs. A senior US official said Bosworth wanted to assess whether the North really planned to return to negotiations and abide by a four-year-old pledge to give up building an atomic arsenal in return for massive aid and security guarantees.
India plans to try Chicago man for attacks
NEW DELHI – Indian officials said yesterday they were collecting evidence to charge a Chicago man with helping plan last year's militant attacks in Mumbai that killed 166 people and reignited tensions with Pakistan. The move comes after a team of US federal investigators shared evidence with India this week against David Headley, an American national previously accused of plotting to attack a Danish newspaper for publishing cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad. Headley was arrested in the United States two months ago. US prosecutors charged him on Monday with scouting targets for the militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, which is blamed for the November 2008 Mumbai rampage on hotels and a Jewish centre.
Corruption threatens 'soul and fabric' of US
BOCA RATON, Florida – Corruption, whether in the form of crooked officials, financial fraudsters or even philandering sports stars, is tearing at the fabric of US society and is the country's number one criminal threat, a senior FBI agent said yesterday. Addressing businessmen in Florida, where financial fraud cases jumped by 42 percent in the last year, FBI Miami Division Special Agent in Charge John Gillies said failures in personal ethics and integrity sowed the initial poisonous seeds of corruption in a society. Gillies said transgressions by high-profile public servants and even perceived social role models, like top golfer Tiger Woods, currently embroiled in allegations that he had extramarital affairs, sent the signal to young Americans that cheating and stealing were acceptable.
US to pay $3.4b to settle Indian trust lawsuit
WASHINGTON – The US government said yesterday it will pay $3.4 billion to settle a long-running lawsuit against the Interior Department for mismanaging the revenue in Native American trust funds. As part of the settlement, the government will pay $1.4 billion directly to members of Indian tribes and establish a $2 billion fund to buy land from Native Americans. Under the settlement, most of the 300,000 individual Indians that were part of the class action lawsuit would receive at least $1,500 each.
