Saif al-Islam – the son of slain ex-Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi – says he is innocent of crimes against humanity, an international prosecutor has said. The International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said talks with Saif al-Islam had been held through intermediaries.
The ICC says Gaddafi’s son, accused of crimes during the recent conflict in Libya, would get a fair trial.
Saif al-Islam, aged 39, has been in hiding for months.
Recent reports claimed the man, who had once been the presumed successor to his father, was in a convoy heading toward Libya’s desert border with Niger, where other Gaddafi allies have fled.
But those reports have not been confirmed, and the ICC says it does not know where he is.
(BBC)
October 29, 2011 at 10:00 am
Boeing’s Dreamliner has finally taken off on its maiden commercial voyage, three years later than planned. The All Nippon Airlines (ANA) flight is carrying its first passengers from Tokyo to Hong Kong.
The Dreamliner had originally been scheduled for delivery in 2008, but Boeing has suffered a string of setbacks.
Wednesday’s flight is a special charter, with normal services due to start in November.
Problems with the Dreamliner have put its launch behind schedule, the latest being an onboard fire during test flights in January, and the company will hope a successful launch will help put to bed some of the memories of prior setbacks.
Boeing says the twin-aisle, mid-size plane features the industry’s largest windows, with higher cabin humidity and cleaner air – all of which combine to allow passengers to arrive at their destinations more refreshed.
(BBC)
October 26, 2011 at 1:04 pm
Two trusted loyalists of Libya’s interim government were handed Muammar Gaddafi’s body to bury secretly deep in the Sahara desert on Tuesday after a cleric prayed over his decomposing corpse, an official said. The National Transitional Council (NTC) had disquieted many outsiders by putting the bodies of Gaddafi and his son Mo’tassim on show in a meat locker in the coastal city of Misrata until their decay forced them on Monday to close the doors.
Under pressure from Western allies, the NTC promised on Monday to investigate how Gaddafi and his son were killed — graphic mobile phone footage shows both alive after their capture. The former Libyan leader was seen being mocked and beaten before he was shot, in what NTC officials say was crossfire.
“The process leading to his burial is taking place now,” NTC official Abdel Majid Mlegta told Reuters by telephone from Libya. “Only two trusted people were assigned to this secret mission. These are not guards, but very trusted NTC people.”
Final Islamic prayers were said over the two bodies by Gaddafi’s personal cleric Khaled Tantoush, who was arrested with him, before they were removed from the Misrata compound where Libyans had filed past their ex-strongman sprawled on a mattress in what became a grim parody of the lying-in-state ceremony.
The last Muslim rites were also attended by two of Gaddafi’s cousins, Mansour Dhao Ibrahim, once leader of the feared People’s Guard, and Ahmed Ibrahim, who were both captured with Gaddafi after their convoy was attacked in a NATO air strike near Sirte, Gaddafi’s home town, just after it had fallen.
(Reuters)
October 25, 2011 at 2:55 pm
As many as 1,000 people were feared killed on Sunday when a powerful earthquake hit southeast Turkey, flattening buildings and leaving survivors crying for help from under the rubble. As night fell, survivors and emergency workers battled to pull people out of the debris in the city of Van and town of Ercis, where a student dormitory collapsed.
Residents in Van joined in a frantic search, using hands and shovels and working under floodlights and flashlights, hearing voices of people buried alive calling from under mounds of shattered concrete in pitch darkness and bitter cold.
An official at the Van provincial crisis center told Reuters more than 100 people had been confirmed killed so far and hundreds more were missing under destroyed buildings.
(Reuters)
More accounts of dead bodies and destruction were emerging from smaller settlements across the remote area near the Iranian border, most of them left without electricity or phone access.
October 23, 2011 at 8:25 pm
Libya’s authorities have come under pressure to give a full account of the death of ex-leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. The US said they should do it in an “open and transparent manner”. The UN called for a full investigation, after video footage showed Colonel Gaddafi captured alive and then dead.
His burial has been delayed with officials divided about what to do with the body.
A coroner in the city of Misrata is expected to carry out a post-mortem.
NATO says it will end its campaign in Libya by October 31.
The alliance’s Secretary General, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, said that as the mission winds down, NATO “will make sure there are no attacks against civilians during the transition period”.
NATO’s seven-month campaign of air strikes was carried out under a UN mandate authorising the use of force to protect civilians in Libya.
Hundreds of Libyans have been queuing to get a glimpse of the body of Col Gaddafi in a meat storage room in Misrata.
The BBC’s Gabriel Gatehouse in the city says some – mostly women – craned their necks to see the body of his son Mutassim, who was also killed on Thursday.
Officials, including acting Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril, have also been to see the corpses.
Oil Minister Ali Tarhouni told Reuters news agency Colonel Gaddafi would not be released for immediate burial.
“I told them to keep it in the freezer for a few days… to make sure that everybody knows he is dead,” he said.
It is unclear whether the ex-leader will be buried in Misrata, in his hometown of Sirte, where he and his son were captured, or elsewhere.
Officials from the National Transitional Council (NTC) have said they will conduct a secret burial and there is some speculation that they might even try to bury him at sea, as happened with al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden, to prevent any grave being turned into a shrine.
(BBC)
October 22, 2011 at 11:45 am
The body of deposed Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is being taken to a location which is being kept secret for security reasons, a National Transitional Council official said Thursday. Gaddafi died of wounds suffered Thursday as fighters battling to complete an eight-month-old uprising against his rule overran his hometown Sirte, Libya’s interim rulers said.
“Gaddafi’s body is with our unit in a car and we are taking the body to a secret place for security reasons,” Mohamed Abdel Kafi, an NTC official in the city of Misrata told Reuters.
(Reuters)
October 20, 2011 at 6:14 pm
Commanders for Libya’s transitional authorities say they have captured ousted leader Col Muammar Gaddafi. The reports came after transitional forces claimed control of Sirte, Col Gaddafi’s birthplace, following weeks of fierce fighting. Some unconfirmed reports say Col Gaddafi has been wounded, others that he has been killed.
The colonel was toppled in August after 42 years in power. The International Criminal Court is seeking his arrest.
“He’s captured. He’s wounded in both legs,” National Transitional Council (NTC) official Abdel Majid told Reuters news agency.
“He’s been taken away by ambulance.”
AFP news agency quoted another NTC official, Mohamed Leith, as saying that Col Gaddafi had been captured in Sirte and was “seriously wounded” but still breathing.
(BBC)
October 20, 2011 at 5:10 pm
Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit is due to be freed from five years’ captivity on Tuesday in return for the release of more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners. Sgt Shalit was seized in 2006 by Hamas militants who tunnelled into Israel. On Monday, the Israeli Supreme Court turned down an appeal for a 48-hour delay from the families of victims of attacks by Palestinian militants.
The first of 477 Palestinian prisoners due to be freed on Tuesday have now started leaving their jails.
They were all believed to be female and accompanied by Egyptian security personnel, Reuters news agency said.
The remaining 550 are scheduled to be released next month.
(BBC)
October 18, 2011 at 9:20 am
The media chief of militant group al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has been killed in an air strike in southern Yemen, Yemeni officials say. The defence ministry said Ibrahim al-Banna, an Egyptian national, and six other militants were killed in the attack in Shabwa province on Friday.
Some reports said the attack involved US drones, others that it was by Yemeni planes.
US drones killed the group’s leader, Anwar al-Awlaki, last month.
The Yemeni defence ministry said Banna was killed by Yemeni war planes in Shabwa, a militant stronghold east of Aden, late on Friday.
It called him one of the group’s “most dangerous operatives”, who was wanted internationally for “planning attacks both inside and outside Yemen”.
(BBC)
October 15, 2011 at 1:20 pm
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is facing a key confidence vote in parliament amid questions over his handling of the economy and personal scandals. Mr Berlusconi is expected to survive but the margin could be narrow.
Italy’s government credit rating was recently downgraded and parliament failed to back a key part of the budget this week, triggering the vote.
Mr Berlusconi also faces trial on sex, bribery and abuse of power charges.
(BBC)
October 14, 2011 at 12:11 pm
There are conflicting reports in Libya about the fate of one of ousted leader Col Muammar Gaddafi’s sons. Some figures from the National Transitional Council told news agencies Mutassim Gaddafi had been seized in the family’s embattled hometown of Sirte.
However, officials in the NTC stronghold of Benghazi could not confirm the claims, which have sparked celebratory gunfire in several cities. NTC forces say they now control most of Sirte, following fierce fighting.
There have been false reports of the capture of senior Gaddafi figures in the past, including another son, Saif al-Islam, and Gaddafi spokesman Moussa Ibrahim.
But if confirmed, Mutassim Gaddafi’s capture would be a major breakthrough for the NTC, says the BBC’s Caroline Hawley in Tripoli.
He is a senior officer in Col Gaddafi’s army and was a national security advisor to his father.
The NTC would want to question him as to the whereabouts of his father and other family members such as Saif and another son Khamis – both in Col Gaddafi’s inner circle – analysts say.
(BBC)
October 13, 2011 at 12:07 pm
The Egyptian prime minister has appealed for calm after 24 people were killed in clashes between Coptic Christians and security forces. The violence broke out after a protest in Cairo against an attack on a church in Aswan province last week, which Copts blame on Muslim radicals.
PM Essam Sharaf said discord between Muslims and Christians in Egypt was “a threat to the country’s security”. His comments came after an emergency cabinet meeting and a nighttime curfew.
Speaking in a televised address after touring the area where the clashes had occurred late on Sunday, Mr Sharaf said: “The most serious threat to the country’s security is tampering with national unity, and the stirring of discord between Muslim and Christian sons of Egypt.”
He added that such violence – the worst in Egypt since President Hosni Mubarak was ousted in February – was also “tampering with the relationship between the people and the army”.
(BBC)
October 10, 2011 at 10:28 am
The forces of Libya’s transitional government have fought their way into the centre of Sirte, one of the last cities loyal to ex-leader Col Gaddafi. Columns of smoke rose above the city as government forces fought their way in, street by street, until they reached the Ouagadougou conference centre where pro-Gaddafi loyalists are holed up.
At least 12 people were killed and more than 190 injured, doctors said.
Thousands of civilians have left Sirte but many have remained behind.
The two sides battered each other with mortar shells, rockets and tank fire in what transitional government forces have described as the final assault on Sirte, some 360km (225 miles) east of the capital, Tripoli.
The battle for Sirte comes nearly two months after the former rebels seized control of virtually all of Libya, ousting former leader Col Muammar Gaddafi.
(BBC)
October 8, 2011 at 11:09 am
World and business leaders have paid tribute to Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, who has died at 56 after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. US President Barack Obama and Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev said Jobs had changed the world. Microsoft’s Bill Gates said it had been “an insanely great honour” to work with him. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg remembered his “mentor and friend”.
The Twitter microblog site struggled to cope with the traffic of tributes. Apple itself said Jobs had been “the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives” and had made the world “immeasurably better”. Thousands of celebrities and ordinary people went on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to record their tributes and memories of the man behind products such as the iPod, the iPhone, the iPad.he death of Steve Jobs could create a record for Twitter traffic. Thousands of people all over the world have also been attending Apple stores to leave flowers, notes, and apples with a bite taken from them to mimic the company’s logo.
(BBC)
October 7, 2011 at 6:48 am
China and Russia have vetoed a UN Security Council resolution condemning Syria over its crackdown on anti-government protesters. The European-drafted resolution had been watered down to try to avoid the vetoes, dropping a direct reference to sanctions against Damascus.
But Moscow and Beijing said the draft contained no provision against outside military intervention in Syria.
The US envoy to the UN said Washington was “outraged” by the vote.
The result is a huge blow to European and US efforts on the Syria issue, the BBC’s Laura Trevelyan in New York says.
(BBC)
October 5, 2011 at 11:33 am
Police in New York City have freed most of the more than 700 people arrested on Brooklyn Bridge on Saturday during a protest against corporate greed. Fewer than 20 protesters are still held as they are yet to be identified.
Most of those freed were given citations for disorderly conduct and a criminal court summons.
The Occupy Wall Street group, camped in Manhattan’s financial district for two weeks, says it will continue its demonstrations.
A spokesman for the New York Police Department told the BBC the small group still detained were expected to appear at the Manhattan criminal court on Sunday.
(BBC)
October 3, 2011 at 10:42 am
German Chancellor Angela Merkel faces a major test of her authority, as MPs vote on whether to approve new powers for the EU’s main bailout fund. She faces a rebellion from some of her coalition who fear bailing out Greece is throwing good money after bad.
Meanwhile in Athens, fresh strikes by public sector workers are planned.
The strikes come as international inspectors resume talks with the Greek government to decide whether it has done enough to receive more funds.
If more than 19 members of Mrs Merkel’s coalition rebel against her, she will have to rely on the support of the centre-left opposition to pass the bill on new powers for the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF).
(BBC)
September 29, 2011 at 10:46 am
