Another situation where the phrase, "never forget, never forgive" is appropriate.
LONDON Four men accused of organizing and participating in the Rwandan genocide in 1994 have been arrested in Britain on warrants issued by the Rwandan government, police said.
The men, arrested Thursday night, were accused of killing members of the Tutsi ethnic group "with the intent to destroy in whole or in part, that group," according to the warrants. All four appeared in court Friday and were ordered held until their next court dates in January.
Britain and Rwanda agreed last week to allow Rwanda to seek extradition of the men, following an assurance by the central African country that they would not face the death penalty, said Gemma Lindfield, a prosecutor for the Rwandan government.
"We are very happy that the arrest has been made on the basis of our request," Rwanda's Chief Prosecutor Martin Ngoga said in the country's capital, Kigali. "We are going to begin another judicial process in order to have legal obstacles cleared to have these people extradited and tried in Rwanda," he added.
Lindfield said police believe the four Rwandans arrested in Britain were high-ranking organizers of the genocide, with links to a group of exiles that has continued to spread the ideology of Hutu ethnic supremacy.
One of the men, Vincent Bajinya, is a doctor who had been employed by a London-based charity assisting refugee nurses and midwives seeking to work in Britain, charity director Vaughan Jones said last month. His lawyer, Philip Eldin-Taylor, said he had been granted British citizenship in November 2004 and changed his name to Vincent Brown. Rwandan prosecutors say Bajinya directed militiamen at roadblocks where Tutsis were killed, Lindfield said.
Another suspect, Celestin Ugirashebuja, a former mayor of the Kigome region, is accused of organizing massacres and had appeared on a list of suspects issued by Rwanda's government in April. Lawyers for Bajinya and Ugirashebuja said both men have denied the charges. No formal pleas have yet been entered.
A third suspect, Charles Munyaneza, arrived in Britain in 1999 and was granted refugee status three years later. It has since been revoked. Prosecutors say he planned killings in the Gikongoro region of southern Rwanda in 1994. The fourth man, Emmanuel Nteziryayo, who was mayor of the Mudasomwa commune in Gikongoro, also appeared on the list of suspects released by the Rwandan government earlier this year.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/30/2006 00:00 ||
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LONDON Two U.S. sailors died after waves swept them from the deck of a nuclear submarine off the coast of southwestern England on Friday, British coast guards said.
The USS Minneapolis-St. Paul was leaving Plymouth harbor in rough weather around midday, said Sean Brooks, a coast guard spokesman. Four sailors were tied to the vessel with ropes a routine precaution but two fell into the surging water. British rescue boats picked up all four, Brooks said.
Lt. Chris Servello, a spokesman for the U.S. 6th Fleet in Naples, southern Italy, said the four men were taken to hospital in Plymouth, where two were pronounced dead. The two survivors were treated for minor injuries and discharged, he said. No one else was injured.
Coast guard spokesman Brooks said authorities received a request for assistance from the USS Minneapolis-St. Paul at 12.50 p.m. and sent a search and rescue helicopter and a lifeboat to the scene.
Brooks said that rescuers initially saw two sailors tied to the vessel's hull with ropes. "Because of the violent weather, they were frequently plunged below the waves," he said. "It then transpired that there were already two other guys in the water."
"They managed to fish everybody out of the water," Brooks said.
Servello, the U.S. Navy spokesman, said the submarine had just completed a weeklong layover in Plymouth and was heading out to sea for routine duties.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/30/2006 00:00 ||
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As an old nuke submariner, it's never easy at sea or in port. Guys would die at any time. Hat's off to unknown shipmates. Rest in peace.
Posted by: Almost Anonymous5839 ||
12/30/2006 1:38 Comments ||
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Yes it is a dangerous profession. From Powerline -
Even in peacetime. The media's breathless tabulation of casualties in Iraq--now, over 1,800 deaths--is generally devoid of context. Here's some context: between 1983 and 1996, 18,006 American military personnel died accidentally in the service of their country. That death rate of 1,286 per year exceeds the rate of combat deaths in Iraq by a ratio of nearly two to one.
That's right: all through the years when hardly anyone was paying attention, soldiers, sailors and Marines were dying in accidents, training and otherwise, at nearly twice the rate of combat deaths in Iraq from the start of the war in 2003 to the present. Somehow, though, when there was no political hay to be made, I don't recall any great outcry, or gleeful reporting, or erecting of crosses in the President's home town. In fact, I'll offer a free six-pack to the first person who can find evidence that any liberal expressed concern--any concern--about the 18,006 American service members who died accidentally in service of their country from 1983 to 1996.
HAVANA (AP) - A statement attributed to Fidel Castro on the eve of the revolution's 48th anniversary assured Cubans Saturday that the ailing leader could still recover from his prolonged illness.
The message was read by a newscaster on state television and radio. Castro traditionally sends a message to Cuban citizens every New Year's Eve to mark the anniversary of the Jan. 1, 1959, revolution that brought him to power. ``I am grateful to you for your affection and support,'' read the message. ``Regarding my recovery, I have always warned that it could be a prolonged process, but it is far from being a lost battle.
``I collaborate as a disciplined patient, attended by the...team of our doctors.''
Castro purportedly said he was still ``in the loop'' when it came to matters of state. ``I have had exchanges with our closest comrades always when cooperation has been necessary on vitally important issues.''
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/30/2006 21:50 ||
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Posted by: Fred ||
12/30/2006 00:00 ||
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Oh, New Hamster, big f'ng deal
Posted by: Captain America ||
12/30/2006 0:35 Comments ||
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Steyn had this douchebag figured out four years ago:
...John Edwards had a dirt-poor hard-scrabble childhood but managed to sue his way out of poverty. He's made 25 million bucks just from suing tobacco companies. His is an inspirational message: If I can do it, the rest of you haven't a hope in hell. But fortunately I've got a thousand new government programmes and micro-initiatives that will partially ameliorate your hopeless mediocrity. (I paraphrase.)
My favourite line in the Edwards spiel comes about two-thirds in, when, after outlining the regulatory hell in which he's going to ensnare banks, the pharmaceutical industry, the garment industry, etc, he confides: "But I'll be honest with you. I don't think I can change this country by myself." It's good to know the other 280 million Americans aren't entirely redundant. His basic pitch is that the entire electorate are victims, and his candidacy is the all-time biggest class-action suit on your behalf.
PALM DESERT Perched on golf carts and holding American flags, residents today solemnly saluted a man who never wanted to be president. Lining the streets, the long line of black Chevy Suburbans and Cadillacs snaked across the desert floor. The hearse carrying the body of former President Gerald R. Ford arrived to a military color guard in front of Saint Margaret's Episcopal Church, the parish where he and his wife, Betty, prayed for more than three decades after he left the presidency.
Betty Ford, 88, appeared frail on the arm of her military escort as she watched the pallbearers carefully lift her husband's casket from the hearse and carry it up the steps of the church. Her four children watched behind her. Other family and close friends held their hands over their hearts as the casket of 38th U.S. president moved passed them and Betty Ford fell into line behind her husband.
The Rev. Dr. Robert G. Certain had an intimate conversation with the Fords, saying a brief prayer over the president's body before the rest of the intimate gathering was allowed into the church. The family had a few private moments alone with the casket as eight busloads of dignitaries and invited guests idled on the street waiting to be invited in. Orange County Assemblyman James Silva and his wife, Connie, along with O.C. state Sen. Dick Ackerman were among the 300 guest invited to the private ceremony this afternoon.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/30/2006 00:00 ||
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Touching graphic.
Thanks, Fred.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
12/30/2006 0:55 Comments ||
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MORE than 500 people were still missing in stormy seas off Indonesia's Java island today, almost a day after a ferry from Borneo capsized.
The sinking was the second Indonesian ferry disaster in as many days after a vessel overturned on Thursday in rough seas off Sumatra.
High seas and bad weather hampered rescue efforts after the latest disaster, officials said.
Rescuers found two bodies and 74 people alive, said the head of search and rescue operations in Semarang, Central Java.
The ferry Senopati Nusantara carried 605 people, including 63 crew, according to the manifest, a navy spokesman said.
Seventeen survivors were taken to Tuban in East Java province, an officer at the district police station said.
Transportation Minister Hatta Rajasa said the ship was on fire before it sank about midnight yesterday. "The huge waves and storm caused the ship to burn," he told the BBC Indonesian service.
"We have received information that dozens of passengers had used life rafts, in addition to those (already) rescued. We are trying to rescue them," he said.
He said the Japanese-made 2178-tonne ship was seaworthy and could ferry more than 850 passengers.
"We will continue the search operation, normally until seven days, but it can be extended until we are sure that we have made our utmost efforts."
A survivor said heavy seas had battered the ship since afternoon, scattering its furniture in every direction.
"The crew told us to be calm and that nothing was going to happen. But at about 11.15pm the ship began to turn over and then capsized," he told Metro TV.
He said he tried to save a child but was hit by a metal bar.
"I was trapped in the ship. But I was flushed out by water and I saw many people struggling to save themselves," he said, adding he held on to a rubber buoy before being rescued.
Another survivor said his 18-year-old daughter was missing. "I hope rescuers can find my daughter," he told Elshinta radio from a hospital in Rembang, where he said he had been taken by fishermen who found him.
Crew members ordered passengers to put on lifejackets before the ship sank, he said.
The ship was reported to be leaking before it sank.
Toni Syaiful, a navy spokesman in the East Java city of Surabaya south of where the ship went down, said it had left Kalimantan on Borneo for Semarang.
Syaiful said the ship carried 542 passengers, based on tickets sold, and 63 crew. Earlier figures from officials and media had ranged from 500 to 850 on board.
Indonesian vessels often carry passengers not listed on the official manifests.
Ships and ferries are a popular means of transport among Indonesia's 17,000 islands, where sea connections are cheaper and more available than air routes. However, safety standards are not always enforced, and accidents occur fairly often.
An eastern stronghold of Sri Lankas Tamil Tiger rebels will likely fall to the military soon following weeks of fighting that has forced thousands of civilians to flee, a brigadier said on Friday. Vakarai, the scene of intense artillery battles with the Tigers since November, is the last major rebel-held town on the east coast after the military drove them out of territory near the strategic port of Trincomalee further north. Its a matter of time now. It could be days, or weeks, but we will get there, Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe, the top military spokesman, told Reuters in a interview. The only thing holding us back is the fear of civilian casualties; they are using them as human shields, he said.
Analysts said the offensive on Vakarai was a key step in the governments plan to clear the Tigers from the east. Once the rebels are pushed out, the government plans to hold local elections that a faction of renegade rebels opposed to the Tigers and aligned to the military are expected to win.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/30/2006 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
HAVANA (AP) - A statement attributed to Fidel Castro on the eve of the revolution's 48th anniversary assured Cubans Saturday that the ailing leader could still recover from his prolonged illness.
PALM DESERT Perched on golf carts and holding American flags, residents today solemnly saluted a man who never wanted to be president. Lining the streets, the long line of black Chevy Suburbans and Cadillacs snaked across the desert floor. The hearse carrying the body of former President Gerald R. Ford arrived to a military color guard in front of Saint Margaret's Episcopal Church, the parish where he and his wife, Betty, prayed for more than three decades after he left the presidency. 
