The Star Online: World Updates
The Star Online: World Updates |
- Burn pit at U.S. Marine base in Afghanistan poses health risk -inspector
- Saudi princess accused of holding Kenyan servant captive in California
- Exiled dissidents claim Iran building new nuclear site
| Burn pit at U.S. Marine base in Afghanistan poses health risk -inspector Posted: WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Open-air burn pits at a U.S. Marine base in Afghanistan pose a health risk to the 13,500 military and civilian personnel there and are still in use despite the installation of four incinerators at a cost of $11.5 million, an inspector general said on Thursday. John Sopko, the special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction, said in a letter to two top U.S. generals that burn pits at Camp Leatherneck in Helmand province were "potentially endangering" the health of U.S. military and civilian personnel. Writing to Army General Lloyd Austin, head of U.S. Central Command, and Marine General Joe Dunford, commander of international forces in Afghanistan, Sopko said the burn pits were still being used despite the installation of four solid- waste incinerators at a cost of $11.5 million. He said the incinerators were being underutilized and as a result, the camp was continuing to use "open-air burn pit operations to dispose of its daily waste" in violation of Defense Department guidance. He said his office reported recently on a similar problem at Forward Operating Base Salerno in Afghanistan. "The toxic smoke from burning solid waste each day increases the long-term health risks for camp personnel, including reduced lung function and exacerbated chronic illnesses, ranging from asthma to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease," Sopko wrote. He said visits to the camp by inspectors showed its two 12-ton incinerators were being underused, and its two 24-ton incinerators were not being used at all because a contract for operation and maintenance had not been awarded. Sopko said an analysis by his department showed the camp's waste could be fully processed by operating the incinerators 18 hours a day. He urged the generals to end the use of open-air burn pits at Camp Leatherneck as quickly as possible by ensuring the incinerators were being operated at the required capacity. (Reporting By David Alexander; Editing by Peter Cooney) |
| Saudi princess accused of holding Kenyan servant captive in California Posted: LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Prosecutors in Southern California charged a Saudi Arabian princess on Wednesday with human trafficking and accused her of bringing a Kenyan woman to the United States and holding her against her will as a servant. The accused woman, Meshael Alayban, 42, brought the Kenyan to the United States in May and paid her $220 a month while holding her passport and keeping her confined to an apartment complex in Irvine, California, where Alayban lived, Orange County prosecutors said in a statement. The servant, whose name was not released, had to wash dishes, cook, clean, do laundry and iron without a day off, prosecutors said. Authorities said they found four Filipino women in the Irvine home who also may have had their passports seized by Alayban's family, and an investigation is under way into whether others were involved in the alleged human trafficking scheme. Police arrested Alayban early on Wednesday at her apartment, a day after the Kenyan woman escaped and flagged down a bus driver, the statement said. Alayban is charged with one felony count of human trafficking. "The laws of our nation and California do not tolerate people who deprive or violate the liberty of another and obtain forced labour or services," Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas said in a statement. The only occasion when the Kenyan woman was allowed to leave the Irvine apartment complex was when she carried the bags of Alayban's family during an outing, prosecutors said. The Kenyan also attended to other people linked to Alayban who lived in the same complex, according to the statement. Alayban had first hired the Kenyan woman as a domestic servant in March 2012 in Saudi Arabia in her family's palace, prosecutors said. She is accused of holding the woman's passport then as well and forcing her to work every day for 16 hours. Orange County prosecutors said the Kenyan woman originally came to work for Alayban by signing a two-year contract with an employment agency that promised her $1,600 a month to labour for eight hours a day, five days a week. Irvine Police Chief David Maggard Jr. said in a statement that his officers were "gratified to have been able to help" the Kenyan woman "find her freedom." Alayban is a wife of Saudi Arabian Prince Abdulrahman bin Nasser bin Abdulaziz al Saud, the Orange County prosecutors said in their statement. Alayban's attorney, Paul Meyer, said in an email that "the complaints were about hours worked and wages paid." "We intend to fully investigate this matter, and expect that the truth will resolve it," he said. Alayban appeared in court in Orange County on Wednesday and a judge set her bail at $5 million. She remains in custody at a women's jail, according to a website for the Orange County Sheriff's Department. Prosecutors have expressed concern Alayban could try to flee if released on bail, and the judge ordered her to wear a GPS device and stay in Orange County if she is let out. Alayban faces up to 12 years in prison if convicted. |
| Exiled dissidents claim Iran building new nuclear site Posted: PARIS (Reuters) - An exiled opposition group said on Thursday it had obtained information about a secret underground nuclear site under construction in Iran, without specifying what kind of atomic activity it believed would be carried out there. The dissident National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) in 2002 exposed Iran's uranium enrichment facility at Natanz and a heavy water facility at Arak. But analysts say it has a mixed track record and a clear political agenda. In 2010, when the group said it had evidence of another new nuclear facility, west of the capital Tehran, U.S. officials said they had known about the site for years and had no reason to believe it was nuclear. The latest allegation comes less than a month after the election of a relative moderate, Hassan Rouhani, as Iran's new president boosted hopes for a resolution of the nuclear dispute with the West, and may be timed to cast doubt on any such optimism. Iran says its nuclear programme is entirely peaceful and rejects accusations by the United States and Israel that it is seeking the capability to make nuclear weapons. But its refusal to curb sensitive nuclear activity, and its lack of full openness with the U.N. nuclear watchdog, have drawn tough Western sanctions and a threat of pre-emptive military strikes by Israel. The NCRI said members of its affiliated People's Mujahideen Organisation of Iran (PMOI) inside the country had "obtained reliable information on a new and completely secret site designated for (Iran's) nuclear project". The NCRI which seeks an end to Muslim clerical rule in Iran, is the political wing of the PMOI, which fought alongside Saddam Hussein's forces in the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s. The NCRI said the site was located in a complex of tunnels beneath mountains 10 km (6 miles) east of the town of Damavand, itself about 50 km northeast of Tehran. Construction of the site's first phase began in 2006 and was recently completed, it said. The group released satellite photographs of what it said was the site. But the images did not appear to constitute hard evidence to support the assertion that it was a planned nuclear facility. A spokesman for the dissidents said he could not say what sort of nuclear work would be conducted there, but that the companies and people involved showed it was a nuclear site. The group named officials it said were in charge of the project. "The site consists of four tunnels and has been constructed by a group of engineering and construction companies associated with the engineering arms of the Ministry of Defence and the IRGC (Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards force)," the NCRI said. "Two of the tunnels are about 550 metres (600 yards) in length, and they have a total of six giant halls," its statement added. Iran said in late 2009 that it planned to build 10 more uranium enrichment sites in addition to its underground Natanz and Fordow facilities, but has provided little additional information. Refined uranium can provide fuel for nuclear power plants, which is Iran's stated aim, but can also be used to make atomic bombs, which the West fears may be Tehran's ultimate goal. (Reporting by Nicholas Vinocur and Leigh Thomas; Writing by Fredrik Dahl; Editing by Robin Pomeroy) |
| You are subscribed to email updates from World To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
0 ulasan:
Catat Ulasan