A round-up of today's other world news in brief ...
EU fails to agree on Guantánamo
The EU has failed to agree a policy on whether to accept inmates from the Guantánamo Bay detention centre but has not ruled out some co-ordination on the issue,
writes Jamie Smyth.
“It is not an easy question and it is up to each nation what they will decide,” said Karel Schwarzenberg, foreign minister for the Czech Republic, holder of the EU presidency. He cited a number of political, legal and security issues that needed further study.
Portugal has asked its EU partners to help the US to close the jail by accepting some of the 245 remaining inmates at the camp. The Netherlands and Austria have firmly ruled out accepting any inmates and several other states, including Ireland, say they will only accept inmates as part of a co-ordinated EU plan.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin said yesterday there was no agreed EU plan yet. He also ruled out accepting any inmates that would pose a terrorist threat in Ireland.
Quake hits Chinese region
BEIJING – Thousands of people have been made homeless by an earthquake on Sunday in remote Qapqal, in China’s far western region of Xinjiang near the Kazakh border.
The earthquake, which measured 5 on the Richter scale, destroyed nearly 200 homes and damaged nearly 3,000 buildings on Sunday morning. No casualties have been reported so far.
More than 4,500 people have been moved to schools, government buildings and tents, in two counties about 700 km to the west of the regional capital, Urumqi. – (Reuters)
EU expands Zimbabwe ban
BRUSSELS – The EU has stepped up pressure on Zimbabwe’s president Robert Mugabe to share power by adding individuals and firms to a sanctions list and calling for an inquiry into Harare’s diamond industry.
The EU yesterday added 27 individuals and 36 companies to the list of banned allies of Mr Mugabe because of their links to suspected human rights abuses.
The revised sanctions list, which will be made public later this week, will include for the first time companies registered in the EU.
The move brings the EU’s Zimbabwe sanctions list to more than 200 people and 40 companies.These people cannot travel to the EU and their assets there are frozen.
The EU officials said the assets of the firms, shell companies that the Union considers support Mr Mugabe’s government, will also be frozen.
Ministers urged the Kimberley Process, an international certification scheme to ensure diamonds do not fund conflict, to investigate Zimbabwe’s diamond trade. – (Reuters)
Rebels capture Somali town
BAIDOA – Hardline Islamist insurgents have captured the central Somali town of Baidoa, an important stronghold of Somalia’s fragile government and seat of the national parliament.
Just hours after Ethiopia withdrew its last troops from Baidoa and pulled back across the border, fighters yesterday from the militant al-Shabaab group moved in.
Battling government troops and local clan militia, they captured an old granary serving as the legislature, the airport, and the home of the country’s acting president. – (Reuters)
Troops seize Tigers’ town
COLOMBO – Sri Lankan troops surged forward yesterday after seizing the last big town held by Tamil Tiger rebels, aiming to strike a death blow to the 25-year separatist insurgency.
On Sunday the army announced the capture of Mullaittivu, the northeastern port seized by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 1996 and turned into a major rebel military operations and command centre. – (Reuters)