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U.S. judge orders release of 5 Gitmo prisoners

by Lara Jakes Jordan / Associated Press

Thursday November 20, 2008, 3:09 PM

AP, FileIn this June 4, 2008, photo, the sun sets over Camp Justice and its adjacent tent city, the legal complex of the U.S. Military Commissions, at Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base, in Cuba.

WASHINGTON -- A federal judge on Thursday ordered the release of five Algerians held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and the continued detention of a sixth in a major blow to the Bush administration's strategy to keep terror suspects locked up without charges.

In the first case of its kind, U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon said the government's evidence linking the five Algerians to al-Qaida was not credible as it came from a single, unidentified source. Therefore, he said, the five could not be held indefinitely as enemy combatants, and should be released immediately.

"To allow enemy combatancy to rest on so thin a reed would be inconsistent with the court's obligation," Leon told the crowded courtroom.

As a result, he said, "The court must and will grant the petitioners and order their release."

As for the sixth Algerian, Belkacem Bensayah, Leon said there was enough reason to believe he was close to an al-Qaida operative and had sought to help others travel to Afghanistan to join the terrorists' fight against the United States and its allies.

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EYE on the WORLD | Nov. 20

by Jon Fobes | Associated Press Photos

Thursday November 20, 2008, 12:30 AM

See a slide show of images from around the world. For a selection of images from throughout the nation, go to cleveland.com/nation

This slide show was created by The Plain Dealer night picture desk.

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Bush looking for other nations' bailout help on his last Asia-Pacific summit in South America

by Martin Crutsinger / Associated Press

Wednesday November 19, 2008, 9:26 PM

APActivists in Lima, Peru, wear masks during a protest to demand the closing of the military prison at the U.S. military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2008. President George W. Bush will arrive in Lima on Friday to attend the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders summit.

More economic news: Cleveland.com/business

WASHINGTON -- President George W. Bush does not see his final Asia-Pacific summit this week in South America as a farewell but rather a chance to enlist more nations in the battle against a financial crisis that threatens to pull the world economy into a severe economic recession.

In a pre-trip briefing, Bush administration officials said Wednesday that the president was focused on getting more nations to sign on to a broad action plan adopted in Washington last weekend by the Group of 20 nations. He also will have one-on-one talks with the leaders of Russia, China, South Korea and Japan.

Bush leaves Friday for a three-day trip to Lima, Peru, where he will attend the 21-nation Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, likely his last summit with world leaders.

Nine of the nations at the summit also attended the Washington summit meeting on the global economic crisis, a gathering of about 20 leaders representing the seven wealthiest nations and major emerging economies, China, Brazil and India.

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Moscow court heeds jurors' jitters, closes trial in slaying of journalist Anna Politkovskaya

by Mike Eckel / Associated Press

Wednesday November 19, 2008, 9:14 PM

APSuspects in the 2006 slaying of journalist Anna Politkovskaya, sit in court in Moscow, Monday Nov.17, 2008. Seen behind bars are the accused, from left, Pavel Ryguzov, Sergei Khadzhikurbanov, Ibragim Makhmudov and Dhzabrail Makhmudov, while Said Arsanezayev, lawyer of Ibragim Makhmudov, sitting 4th right, and Murad Musayev, lawyer of Dzhabrai Makhmudov, sitting 3rd right, look through papers. The suspects being tried on murder charges are former Moscow police officer Sergei Khadzhikurbanov, and Makhmudov brothers, Ibragim and Dzhabrail. Prosecutors say the man accused of pulling the trigger, Rustam Makhmudov, has fled the country. The others are unidentified.

More world news: Cleveland.com/world

MOSCOW -- A Moscow court reversed itself Wednesday and barred the public and media from the trial of three men accused of murdering investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya after jurors complained press coverage could put them risk.

The decision was a blow for relatives and rights groups who hoped that public scrutiny would yield new information about the killing.

Politkovskaya embarrassed the Kremlin with her reporting on human rights abuses in Chechnya. Her execution-style murder in her Moscow apartment building in 2006 sparked international outrage and renewed fears about the safety of journalists working in Russia.

The Moscow District Military Court made the decision after jurors refused to enter the courtroom because they feared media coverage would bring them wide public attention, Politkovskaya family lawyer Karinna Moskalenko said.

The courtroom Wednesday was filled with print reporters, photographers and television cameras.

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Russia warns media on economic crisis news

by The Associated Press

Wednesday November 19, 2008, 9:09 PM

MOSCOW -- Russian prosecutors will aggressively monitor how media outlets report on the ongoing financial crisis, authorities said Wednesday.

The Prosecutor General's office ordered news organizations to be responsible when reporting on financial institutions and not to spread panic, saying inspections may be carried out. No further details were given.

Reports on the Russian stock market plummet or the decline of the ruble have been all but absent on state-run television. Most TV stations are run by the government or private companies loyal to the Kremlin.

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EU: Russia-Georgia talks make some progress

by Frank Jordans / Associated Press

Wednesday November 19, 2008, 8:45 PM

APRussian foreign vice-minister Grigori Karassine speaks with reporters during a press conference after the second round of the Caucasus talks to try to settle the Russia-Georgia conflict at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2008.

GENEVA -- Mediators succeeded Wednesday in getting direct talks going between Russia and Georgia, pressing the two neighbors to resolve security and refugee issues from their August war in the troubled Caucasus.

In all, eight parties met behind closed doors at the U.N.'s European headquarters in Geneva for the one-day talks and agreed to meet again next month, EU representative Pierre Morel said.

"Today we have taken a big step forward," Morel said. "All of the participants have recognized that the security situation remains quite unsatisfactory."

The U.N. refugee agency estimates more than 30,000 people are still unable to return to their homes, and tensions in the region remain high.

"There are places where ethnic clashes and ethnic hatred still prevail," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin admitted.

His comments were mirrored by Georgia's Deputy Foreign Minister Giga Bokeria, who said he feared "ethnic cleansing in those occupied territories where ethnic Georgians still live."

Morel said it was the first time that all of the parties had met directly. An initial attempt at negotiations broke down last month, in part over disagreements whether representatives from Georgia's two breakaway provinces, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, should take part.

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Gates, Rice defend U.S.-Iraq security agreement

by Lolita C. Baldor / Associated Press

Wednesday November 19, 2008, 8:27 PM

APIraqis hold a demonstration in support of a U.S.-Iraqi security pact in Basra, Iraq, Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2008.

WASHINGTON -- The security agreement between the United States and Iraq provides both the time and authority needed for American troops to train Iraqi forces and pursue terrorists, senior Bush administration officials said Wednesday.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice were explaining and defending the agreement in classified briefings to Congress. Some members of Congress are skeptical about the agreement that lays down U.S. troop withdrawal timelines and gives Iraq limited legal jurisdiction over U.S. forces and military contractors who commit crimes.

The 21-page document was signed on Monday in Baghdad by U.S. and Iraqi officials after months of painstaking negotiations; it still needs the approval of the Iraqi parliament. Tempers ran high when debate began in parliament this week, including a fight among supporters and opponents on Wednesday.

Although the Bush administration contends congressional approval is not required on the U.S. side, the White House dispatched Gates and Rice to Congress to assuage lawmakers' worries as the clock ticks down on the existing mandate from the United Nations for the troops' presence in Iraq. The U.N. mandate expires Dec. 31.

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Chaotic Iraqi parliament debate on security-pact over the status of U.S. forces ends in scuffles

by Hamza Hendawi / Associated Press

Wednesday November 19, 2008, 8:11 PM

APAn Iraqi man kisses a poster picturing Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki during a demonstration in support of a U.S.-Iraqi security pact in Basra, Iraq's second-largest city, 340 miles southeast of Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2008.

BAGHDAD -- A heated parliamentary debate on the U.S.-Iraq security treaty was called to an early close Wednesday as lawmakers loyal to anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr scuffled with security guards of the foreign minister and the speaker of the legislature and his two deputies.

The session was chaotic from the start, with lawmakers shouting at each other. Speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani added to the din by repeatedly yelling at legislators to sit down or keep quiet, but failed to restore order.

The turmoil followed the announcement by two small political factions that they would join al-Sadr's supporters in opposing the security pact, which would allow American forces to stay in Iraq for three more years.

The deal is backed by the governing coalition, which holds a majority in parliament, but Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is campaigning for help from other blocs in hopes of passing the measure with broader support in a vote by legislators Monday.

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Al-Qaida No. 2 insults Obama in audio message

by Maamoun Youssef / Associated Press

Wednesday November 19, 2008, 7:19 PM

AP, FileAyman al-Zawahri, seen in a video provided posted on the Internet Thursday, April 13, 2006.

More national news: Cleveland.com/nation

CAIRO, Egypt -- Al-Qaida's No. 2 slurred Barack Obama with a demeaning racial term for a black American who does the bidding of whites in a new Web message Wednesday intended to dent the president-elect's popularity among Arabs and Muslims and claim he will not change U.S. policy.

Ayman al-Zawahri's speech was al-Qaida's first reaction to Obama's election victory -- and it suggested the terror network is worried the new American leader could undermine its rallying cry that the United States is an enemy oppressor.

Obama has been welcomed by many in the Middle East who hope he will end what they see as American aggression against Muslims and Arabs under President George W. Bush. Some believe his race and Muslim family connections could make him more understanding of the developing world's concerns.

Al-Zawahri dug into U.S. racial history to try to directly knock down that belief and argue Obama will be no more sympathetic than white leaders to what the al-Qaida leader called "the oppressed" of the world.

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Herod may have been buried with lavish artwork

by Steve Weizman / Associated Press

Wednesday November 19, 2008, 5:37 PM

APIsraeli archaeologist Prof. Ehud Netzer poses with the remains of a sarcophagus believed to be King Herod's, during a press conference at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2008. Netzer announced at a press conference Wednesday that analysis of newly revealed items found at the site of King Herod's mausoleum at Herodium provided researchers with further proof of the site being the actual grave site of the Jewish King.

HERODIUM, West Bank -- King Herod may have been buried in a crypt with lavish Roman-style wall paintings of a kind previously unseen in the Middle East, Israeli archaeologists said Wednesday.

The scientists found such paintings and signs of a regal two-story mausoleum, bolstering their conviction that the ancient Jewish monarch was buried there.

Ehud Netzer, head of Jerusalem's Hebrew University excavation team, which uncovered the site of the king's winter palace in the Judean desert in 2007, said the latest finds show work and funding fit for a king.

"What we found here, spread all around, are architectural fragments that enable us to restore a monument of 25 meters high, 75 feet high, very elegant, which fits Herod's taste and status," he told The Associated Press in an interview at the hillside dig in an Israeli-controlled part of the West Bank, south of Jerusalem.

No human remains or inscriptions have been found to prove conclusively that the tomb was Herod's, but excavation continues.

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Indian navy sinks suspected pirate 'mother' ship

by Sam Dolnick/Associated Press

Wednesday November 19, 2008, 9:16 AM

NEW DELHI, India -- An Indian naval vessel sank a suspected pirate "mother ship" in the Gulf of Aden and chased two attack boats into the night, officials said today, yet more violence in the lawless seas where brigands are becoming bolder and more violent.

Separate bands of pirates also seized a Thai ship with 16 crew members and an Iranian cargo vessel with a crew of 25 in the Gulf of Aden, where Somalia-based pirates appear to be attacking ships at will, said Noel Choong of the International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting center in Malaysia.

"It's getting out of control," Choong said.

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EYE on the WORLD | Nov. 19

by Jon Fobes | Associated Press Photos

Wednesday November 19, 2008, 12:30 AM

See a slide show of images from around the world. For a selection of images from throughout the nation, go to cleveland.com/nation

This slide show was created by The Plain Dealer night picture desk.

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Israel to resume fuel shipments for Gaza power

by Aron Heller / Associated Press

Tuesday November 18, 2008, 10:24 PM

APPalestinian children use gas lamps during a power cut in Gaza City, Monday, Nov.10, 2008. But Israel has reversed course and decided Monday to resume much-needed fuel shipments to the Gaza Strip, despire continuing rocket fire from Gaza into Israel.

JERUSALEM -- Israel reversed course Monday and decided to resume fuel shipments to Gaza's electricity plant despite continued rocket fire. Gaza authorities already had shut down the facility, cutting power to much of Gaza City.

Israel stopped the shipments last week and closed Gaza's border crossings in response to a wave of Palestinian rocket attacks, which followed an Israeli incursion into Gaza and a fierce gunbattle between army troops and Hamas forces. The clashes have tested an Egyptian-mediated truce that has held for five months.

Israel is the sole provider of industrial fuel to Gaza's only power plant. Israeli defense officials said Defense Minister Ehud Barak agreed to a request by peace envoy Tony Blair to resume the shipments, and Israel will allow minimal amounts of fuel for the power plant to enter Gaza starting Tuesday. Otherwise, crossings would remain closed, they said.

The defense officials spoke on condition of anonymity because no public statement had been released.

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Mandate keeps NATO from hijacked Saudi tanker

by Slobodan Lekic / Associated Press

Tuesday November 18, 2008, 10:19 PM

APThe chief officer of the MV Kapitan Maslov, points to bullet holes in the side of his ship, Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2008, on the vessel's arrival in the port of Mombassa, Kenya. The MV Kapitan Maslov was recently attacked by Somali pirates but managed to escape.

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- NATO has no plans to intercept the Saudi supertanker hijacked by Somali pirates since its warships in the area have no mandate to board captured merchant vessels by force, a spokesman said Tuesday.

NATO officials have said the hijacking of the 318,000-ton UAE-owned MV Sirius Star on Saturday took place in a part of the Indian Ocean far removed from the area where an alliance flotilla has been operating since last month.

The four-ship contingent was dispatched to the region under a U.N. mandate to escort vessels chartered by the WFP to Somali ports, and to conduct patrols designed to deter pirates from attacking merchant ships transiting through the Gulf of Aden.

Two warships -- the Greek frigate HS Themistokles and the Italian destroyer ITS Durand -- are escorting cargo ships chartered by the World Food Program to carry food aid from Mombasa to Mogadishu. A Turkish frigate, the TOG Gokova, and the British frigate HMS Cumberland are conducting deterrence patrols in the Gulf of Aden, where they engaged in a firefight last week with pirates attempting to hijack a Danish ship.

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