The Star Online: World Updates
The Star Online: World Updates |
- Somali man held two months faces charges in U.S.
- Gazprom delegation in talks with N.Korea oil ministry - KCNA
- California lawmakers pass bill to teach gay history
| Somali man held two months faces charges in U.S. Posted: 05 Jul 2011 09:45 PM PDT NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Somali man suspected of assisting al Qaeda was held abroad on a U.S. Navy ship for questioning for over two months without being advised of any legal rights, an administration official said. The man, identified as Ahmed Abdulkadir Warsame, was brought to New York City on July 4 to face charges in a U.S. criminal court. He appeared in a New York court on Tuesday morning and pleaded not guilty to providing material support to al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and the Somali group Al Shabaab, U.S. prosecutors in Manhattan said on Tuesday. Warsame was arrested in April by the U.S. military in the Gulf, he was questioned about anti-terrorism "for intelligence purposes for more than two months" before being read his Miranda rights, the prosecutors said in a statement. Miranda rights entitle suspects to a lawyer and the right to remain silent. He was questioned by interrogators from the High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group and the U.S. military, according to an administration official. President Barack Obama's administration has come under fire by Republicans and even some fellow Democrats over his decision to prosecute some terrorism suspects in criminal courts and not in military courts, where rules for evidence are looser. In Washington, another senior administration official said Obama's national security team had unanimously recommended the prosecution of Warsame in a criminal court. The senior Republican on the Homeland Security Committee, Senator Susan Collins, said she did not agree with this decision. "A foreign national who fought on behalf of al Shabaab in Somalia - and who was captured by our military overseas - should be tried in a military commission, not a federal civilian court in New York or anywhere else in our country," she said in a statement . LATER WAIVED RIGHTS After his interrogation, a fresh FBI team came in and was permitted to talk with him, at which time he waived his legal rights and continued to talk for several days, said the first official, who declined to be identified because he was not authorized to talk on the record about matters of terrorism. Warsame arrived in New York City late on July 4 after being formally arrested the previous day, according to a letter from prosecutors to the U.S. court. Warsame, said to be in his mid-20s, was indicted on nine charges, including providing material support from at least 2007 to April 2011 to Somali militants al Shabaab and al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), two groups designated by Washington as terrorist organizations. According to the charges, Warsame also worked to broker a weapons deal with AQAP on behalf of al Shabaab. A joint statement by the Manhattan U.S. Attorney, the FBI and the New York Police Department said he was also charged with "conspiring to teach and demonstrate the making of explosives, possessing firearms and explosives in furtherance of crimes of violence and other violations." (Reporting by Grant McCool and Basil Katz in New York and Jeremy Pelofsky in Washington; editing by Todd Eastham and Jackie Frank) Copyright © 2011 Reuters Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. |
| Gazprom delegation in talks with N.Korea oil ministry - KCNA Posted: 05 Jul 2011 09:45 PM PDT SEOUL (Reuters) - A delegation from Russia's Gazprom OAO visiting North Korea has held talks with officials from the Ministry of Oil Industry there, North Korea's central news agency reported late on Tuesday. "Present at the talks from the DPRK side were Minister of Oil Industry Kim Hui Yong, officials concerned, and from the Russian side, members of the delegation of Gazprom of Russia headed by Deputy Managing Chairman Alexandr Ananenkov," the Korean Central News Agency said. "At the talks, both sides discussed cooperation on oil and gas and a series of other issues of bilateral concern," KCNA said, without elaborating. The Gazprom delegation's trip follows a reported recent visit by Russia's spy chief to the North Korean capital to discuss economic projects involving North and South Korea, the world's second-largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) buyer after Japan. Russia and North Korea share a short border, but ties worsened and trade fell steeply after the collapse of the Communist Soviet Union in 1991. (Reporting by Cho Mee-young; Editing by Chris Lewis) Copyright © 2011 Reuters Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. |
| California lawmakers pass bill to teach gay history Posted: 05 Jul 2011 07:42 PM PDT SACRAMENTO, Calif (Reuters) - A bill to require public schools in California to teach about the historical accomplishments of gay men and lesbians passed the state legislature on Tuesday in what supporters call a U.S. first. Governor Jerry Brown, a Democrat, has not said publicly whether he supports the bill, which he has 12 days to sign or veto once it reaches his desk later this month. If he takes no action, the measure would become law automatically. The bill gained final passage from the state Assembly on a vote of 49-25, without a single Republican supporting it. The measure cleared the state Senate in April. California already requires public schools to teach the contributions made to society by women and by racial and ethnic groups that were historically discriminated against, including blacks, Latinos and Native Americans. Supporters of the latest bill said it would simply include gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender individuals within that existing requirement, making it part of the curriculum in history and other social studies classes. "It's unfair to leave out or exclude an entire portion of our population from history," said Carolyn Laub, executive director of San Francisco-based Gay-Straight Alliance Network. The group, which supported the bill, said no other state has passed similar legislation. California Assemblyman Donald Wagner is one of the Republicans who opposed the requiring. "Writing these provisions into textbooks will further an agenda rather than teach facts," Wagner said. "When we do things, we politicize them because that's the nature of politics. We should leave education to the educators." Even if the bill becomes law, it could be several years before the change reaches California students. The California Department of Education has said that, because of the fiscal crisis facing the state, it does not expect to adopt new textbooks until 2015. (Writing by Alex Dobuzinskis: Editing by Steve Gorman and Cynthia Johnston) Copyright © 2011 Reuters Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. |
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