Shutdown heads south; Antarctic stations shuttered

WASHINGTON: The US government shutdown is reaching all the way down to the South Pole.

The National Science Foundation announced Tuesday that it is putting its three Antarctic scientific stations in deep freeze just as scientists are starting to arrive for the start of a new research season.

The NSF runs three stations in Antarctica spending just under $400 million a year there. It often takes weeks for some 1,200 researchers to get to the southern continent by boat or plane.

Scientists say October is when spring and summer research starts in Antarctica. A ship had been scheduled to arrive Wednesday with researchers, including those working on a long term study that has tracked penguins and other creatures since 1990.

Libya demands US return seized Qaeda 'operative'

 

 

 

TRIPOLI: Libya's top political authority demanded Tuesday the United States "immediately" hand back an alleged Al-Qaeda operative its forces captured in Tripoli, as activists urged that his rights be respected.

The country is bristling after the US operation to snatch Abu Anas al-Libi on Saturday, with the government summoning the US ambassador and Prime Minister Ali Zeidan insisting that all Libyans should be tried on home soil.

The case has embarrassed and put the Libyan government under pressure from its critics -- notably former rebel groups in the 2011 revolt that ousted and killed dictator Moamer Kadhafi.

A General National Congress statement stressed "the need for the immediate surrender" of Libi, and described the US operation as a "flagrant violation" of Libya's sovereignty.

The text, which was passed by the GNC, also called for the "need to allow the Libyan authorities and their families to get in touch with him (Libi) and guarantee them access to a lawyer."

It was the first official statement from Libya that clearly condemns the operation, in which Libi was seized from his car by US forces in broad daylight in a Tripoli street on Saturday.

Libi -- whose real name is Nazih Abdul Hamed al-Raghie -- was on the FBI's most wanted list with a $5 million (3.7 million euro) bounty on his head for his alleged role in the 1998 twin bombings of two US embassies in East Africa.

He is reportedly being held aboard a US naval ship in the Mediterranean.

On Sunday, Tripoli said it had demanded an explanation from Washington for Libi's "kidnapping".

On Tuesday, the justice minister summoned US Ambassador Deborah Jones to answer questions about the operation.

"Salah al-Marghani summoned the ambassador of the United States on Monday morning to ask for answers to several questions relating to the case" of Libi's capture, his ministry said.

Marghani and officials from the foreign ministry met members of Libi's family, who were told of the meeting with Jones, the statement added.

Zeidan said that, while he valued Tripoli's "important" relationship with the United States, Libyans should not be tried abroad.

"We insist that Libyan citizens must be tried in Libya, and Libya will not deliver its citizens abroad for trial," Zeidan said in Morocco.

The United Nations Support Mission in Libya backed Tripoli's calls for clarification.

"The government of Libya and the Libyan people have every right to know the circumstances of the abduction of the Libyan citizen... and to demand full respect of international and national laws," UNSMIL chief Tarek Mitri said.

'Hunt down and expel illegal foreigners'

Meanwhile, the Operations Room of Libya's Revolutionaries, a group of ex-rebels, said it was on high alert "in light of the deterioration in security and damage to the country's sovereignty by foreign intelligence bodies."

It ordered its fighters to be prepared for orders to "hunt down and expel foreigners who are illegally in the country."

US Secretary of State John Kerry has defended the operation to capture Libi, calling him a "legal and appropriate target".

Kerry said Libi had committed "acts of terror" and had been "appropriately indicted by courts of law," but refused to say whether Libya had been informed of the raid in advance.

Rights groups have criticised the operation, urging the United States to respect Libi's rights and to give him access to legal advice.

Human Rights Watch called on the United States to ensure Libi is charged quickly in a civilian court.

"The US needs to respect his rights so that he can be fairly tried in a civilian court," said HRW's Laura Pitter.

"That means ensuring he gets a lawyer during any questioning and that he is promptly brought before a judge and charged."

A day earlier, Amnesty International sharply criticised Libi's capture, saying it violated "fundamental human rights principles".

The operation in Tripoli was one of two US raids at the weekend.

Navy SEALs launched an attack on a stronghold in the southern Somali port of Barawe of the Al-Shebab, targeting an elusive Kenyan commander.

Their success was unclear, as they were forced to withdraw before they could confirm whether they had killed their target.

Bangladesh factory fire: 7 bodies found in charred ruins

 

 

SRIPUR: Rescue workers recovered seven bodies Wednesday from the charred ruins of a garment factory on the outskirts of Bangladesh's capital after firefighters brought the massive blaze under control, police said.

Revising an earlier death toll which put the number of dead at nine, local police chief Amir Hossain said most of the victims had been so badly burned that they could not be identified.

"The death toll is seven. Previously we over counted the toll," Hossain
told AFP at the scene of the fire in Sripur which broke out on Tuesday evening.

"Two bodies have been identified and handed over to their relatives. Five other bodies were charred beyond recognition," he added. Hossain said that the fire was now "under control" although parts of the
two-storey building were still smouldering.

The fire is the latest in a string of deadly disasters in Bangladeshi
garment factories. A total of 1,129 were killed in April when a garment factory complex collapsed in the nation's worst industrial disaster.
A fire at the Tazreen garment factory in Dhaka killed 111 workers in
November last year.

Minor girl sexually assaulted back home from hospital in Lahore

LAHORE: The minor girl, who was sexually assaulted a month ago, has now been shifted to her house from the hospital after complete recovery on Wednesday here, Geo News reported.

Police said that the girl, 5 had fully recovered three/four days ago, but for unavoidable circumstances she was not being shifted to her house. However, the girl escorted by heavy contingent of police was shifted to her house early this morning.

Police in plain clothes have also cordoned off the entire area and making hectic efforts to dig out the accused.

It may be recalled that some unknown persons had sexually assaulted the minor girl twenty-eight days ago on September 12, but the police have miserably failed to arrest them thus far.

 

Hong Kong seizes elephant tusks worth $1 million

HONG KONG: Elephant tusks worth more than $1 million were seized by Hong Kong customs after being discovered hidden under bags of soya in shipments from West Africa, officials said Thursday.

In what officials called an "intelligence-based" operation last month, the southern Chinese city's border control found 189 tusks in three containers.

"After X-ray examination, the officers found the ivory tusks, weighing 769 kilogrammes (1,695 pounds) in total, in the innermost parts of the containers. The ivory tusks were packed in linen and nylon bags and covered by bags of soya," a Hong Kong government spokesman said in a statement released Thursday.

The three six-metre (20-foot) containers arrived at the city's maritime port from Cote d'Ivoire in separate shipments, according to customs officials, who did not specify when the shipments arrived.

They said the tusks could be sold for HK$11.53 million ($1.49 million).

The seizure came less than two months after the last major haul of 1,000 elephant tusks found in a container from Nigeria, which along with rhino horns and leopard skins also discovered was worth more than $5 million.

Ivory is popular with Chinese collectors who see it as a valuable investment and leopard skin is a popular material for fashion and decoration.

"Hong Kong...is committed to continuing to take vigorous enforcement action against the trafficking of endangered wildlife," Hong Kong customs head of ports and maritime command, Vincent Wong, said in the press statement.

The international trade in elephant ivory, with rare exceptions, has been outlawed since 1989 after populations of the African giants dropped from millions in the mid-20th century to some 600,000 by the end of the 1980s.

Hong Kong, a free port which runs one of the biggest container terminals in the world, often sees the seizure of products from banned trades.

But customs officials have previously said there was "no concrete information" to show that the financial hub had become a gateway for ivory smuggling.