A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Obama restarts Guantanamo trials
WASHINGTON – In a setback to hopes for a quick closure of the Guantánamo Bay prison, the Obama administration yesterday lifted a stay on filing new charges in military tribunals there and set up a process for continuing to hold detainees who have not been charged.
President Barack Obama said he ordered the defence department to lift an order that had suspended the filing of new charges in the military tribunals at the camp.
President Obama had suspended such charges when he announced his review of the detainee policy in early 2009, shortly after he took office.
The White House said that review was now complete.
The president also issued an executive order establishing a process to continue to hold some Guantánamo detainees who have been neither charged, convicted nor designated for transfer but who are deemed to pose a threat to US security.– (Reuters)
Muslim fined for burning poppy
LONDON – A radical Muslim who burned a poppy on Armistice Day and shouted “British soldiers burn in hell” during the traditional two- minute silence has bee fined £50 after being found guilty of a public order offence.
Emdadur Choudhury (26) insulted the dead and those who mourned them when he burned two large plastic poppies on November 11th last year, district Judge Howard Riddle ruled. “The two-minute chanting . . . was a calculated and deliberate insult to the dead,” he said.
Choudhury and his fellow accused Mohammad Haque (30) were members of the Muslims Against Crusades protest group. Mr Haque was found not guilty of the same offence. The incident had taken place near the Royal Albert Hall in west London, Belmarsh magistrates heard.– (Reuters)
Settlers shoot at Palestinians
QUSRA – Jewish settlers have shot and wounded 10 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, according to witnesses and medics.
Eqab Hassan, a resident of the Palestinian village of Qusra, south of Nablus, said about 20 settlers cut down olive trees belonging to the village. Its residents began throwing stones at the settlers who then opened fire, wounding 10 people, he said.
Mr Hassan said Israeli soldiers intervened in the clashes and shot tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the crowd. Palestinian medics said five people with light and moderate gunshot wounds were taken to a local hospital. More people were still being evacuated from the scene, medics said. Israeli media reported one settler was injured in the head by a stone thrown at him. – (Reuters)