Tag: Evening Edition

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – In a political setback for President Barack Obama, the United States said on Monday it would try self-professed September 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four co-conspirators in a military commission at Guantanamo Bay and not in a U.S. civil court as Obama hoped.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder told a news conference the decision was necessary because Congress had imposed “unwise and unwarranted restrictions” that blocked the administration from bringing any Guantanamo detainees to trial in the United States.

by Thomas Morfin – 50 mins ago

ABIDJAN (AFP) – French and UN helicopters opened fire on the Ivory Coast presidential palace and bases of strongman Laurent Gbagbo Monday amid an all-out offensive to make him quit the presidency.

The helicopters targeted the presidency, Gbagbo’s residence and military barracks in the main city Abidjan hours after fighters for internationally recognised leader Alassane Ouattara launched a new offensive to unseat him.

ABIDJAN (AFP) – The French army took over Ivory Coast’s main airport Sunday as the battle for Abidjan raged into a fourth day and rival leaders blamed each other for chilling massacres in the west.

The French Licorne (Unicorn) force took control of the airport in the main city Abidjan and Paris reinforced its troops in the city with 300 men as more than 1,500 foreigners sought refuge at a French military camp amid violence and looting in the city.

NEAR BREGA, Libya (AFP) – The oil town of Brega saw heavy fighting on Sunday as rebel forces advanced only to fall back again after being ambushed by forces loyal to Moamer Kadhafi, who was hit by another defection.

Former foreign minister and UN General Assembly president Ali Treiki became the latest official to abandon Kadhafi, after the flight to Britain of foreign minister and regime stalwart Mussa Kussa earlier in the week.

ABIDJAN (AFP) – Heavy artillery fire and explosions shook downtown Abidjan Saturday on the third day of a fierce battle for the city, as rival forces were accused of massacring hundreds in western Ivory Coast.

Cornered, but clinging on, strongman Laurent Gbagbo brushed off calls by world leaders to step down amid an offensive by troops backing the internationally recognised president Alassane Ouattara in Abidjan.

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese officials grappling on Sunday to end the world’s worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl were focusing on a crack in a concrete pit that was leaking radiation into the ocean from a crippled reactor.

Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) said it had found a crack in the pit at its No.2 reactor in Fukushima, generating readings 1,000 millisieverts of radiation per hour in the air inside the pit.

AJDABIYAH, Libya (Reuters) – Libyan rebels fled in headlong retreat from the superior arms and tactics of Muammar Gaddafi’s troops on Wednesday, exposing the insurgents’ weakness without Western air strikes to tip the scales in their favor.

It had taken more than five days of allied bombardment to destroy government tanks and artillery in the strategic town of Ajdabiyah before rebels rushed in and chased Gaddafi’s troops 300 km (200 miles) west in a two-day dash along the coast.

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan called on the world not to impose “unjustifiable” import curbs on its goods as French President Nicolas Sarkozy was due to arrive on Thursday, the first leader to visit since an earthquake and tsunami damaged a nuclear plant, sparking the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl in 1986.

In a briefing to the World Trade Organization (WTO), Japan said it was monitoring radioactive contamination to prevent potential food safety risks and would provide the WTO with quick and precise information.

TRIPOLI (Reuters) – Muammar Gaddafi’s better armed and organized troops reversed the westward charge of rebels and world powers meeting in London piled pressure on the Libyan leader to end his 41-year rule.

British Prime Minister David Cameron, opening the London conference, accused Libyan troops of “murderous attacks,” while U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said military strikes would press on until Gaddafi loyalists ceased violence.

TOKYO (Reuters) – France and the United States are to help Japan in its battle to contain radiation from a crippled nuclear complex where plutonium finds have raised public alarm over the world’s worst atomic crisis since Chernobyl in 1986.

The high-stakes operation at the Fukushima plant has added to Japan’s unprecedented humanitarian disaster with 27,500 people dead or missing from a March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

NAWFALIYAH/MISRATA, Libya (Reuters) – Rebels advanced west toward the birthplace of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi on Monday, firing mortars and heavy machineguns in sporadic clashes with loyalist forces.

Emboldened by Western-led air strikes against Gaddafi’s troops, the rebels took the town of Nawfaliyah and moved toward Sirte, Gaddafi’s home town and an important military base, in the sixth week of an uprising against his 41-year rule.

TOKYO (Reuters) – Plutonium found in soil at the crippled Fukushima nuclear complex heightened alarm on Tuesday over Japan’s protracted battle to contain the world’s worst atomic crisis in 25 years.

Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) said the radioactive material, a by-product of atomic reactions and also used in nuclear bombs, was traced in soil at five locations at the complex, hit by an earthquake and tsunami on March 11.

BIN JAWAD, Libya (AFP) – Libyan rebels’ push westwards towards Tripoli gathered momentum on Sunday amid promises the uprising would not further hamper oil production in the areas under their control.

The rebels’ pursuit of Moamer Kadhafi’s forces saw them wrest back control of key oil town Ras Lanuf and press on as far as Nofilia with Kadhafi’s hometown of Sirte firmly in their sights 100 kilometres (60 miles) further along the road where the next major battle was expected.

Operator of quake-hit nuclear plant says reading that radioactivity was 10 million times more than normal was an error

The operator of Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi quake-crippled nuclear complex has said a spike reported in radioactivity at the plant is a mistake.

Jiji Press quoted the Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) as saying on Sunday that the mistake – which indicated radiation levels 10 million times higher than normal – was due to confusion between readings of iodine and cobalt in the water.

The inaccurate reading had forced emergency workers to flee from the complex’s Unit 2 reactor.

“The number is not credible,” said TEPCO’s spokesman, Takashi Kurita. “We are very sorry.”

He said officials were taking another sample to get accurate levels, but did not know when the results would be announced.

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(Reuters) – Libyan rebels backed by allied air strikes retook the strategic town of Ajdabiyah on Saturday after an all-night battle that suggests the tide is turning against Muammar Gaddafi’s forces in the east.

Western warplanes bombed the outskirts of Misrata further west to stop Gaddafi forces shelling the city, a rebel spokesman said. One inhabitant said 115 people had died in Misrata in a week and snipers were still shooting people from rooftops.

(Reuters) – Japanese engineers struggled on Sunday to pump radioactive water from a crippled nuclear power station after radiation levels soared in seawater near the plant more than two weeks after it was battered by a huge earthquake and a tsunami.

Tests on Friday showed iodine 131 levels in seawater 30 km (19 miles) from the coastal nuclear complex had spiked 1,250 times higher than normal, but it was not considered a threat to marine life or food safety, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said.