A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Farc says it will free five hostages
BOGOTA – Colombia’s Farc guerrillas plan to free five hostages, including three military officials and two local politicians, in a goodwill gesture, the rebels said in a communique published yesterday.
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or Farc, rebels, are at their weakest in decades after reverses suffered during nearly 10 years of the government’s US-backed counter- insurgency campaign. However they still hold about 18 kidnap victims for political leverage. – (Reuters)
Blair recalled to Iraq war inquiry
LONDON – Former British prime minister Tony Blair has been asked to appear before a public inquiry into the Iraq war for a second time early next year, inquiry chairman John Chilcot said yesterday.
Mr Blair, in power at the time of the US-led invasion in 2003, gave evidence to the inquiry last January, saying he had no regrets about the war and that Saddam Hussein was a threat to the world who had to be removed or disarmed.
The Chilcot Inquiry is seeking to learn the lessons from the war and is not a court of law. – (Reuters)
UN says Ivory Coast poll is beyond dispute
ABIDJAN – Ivory Coast’s Laurent Gbagbo had no grounds to dispute the results of the November 28th presidential election that gave rival Alassane Ouattara victory, the United Nations said yesterday.
Defying international calls to step down, Mr Gbagbo has sworn himself in for a new term, despite provisional results that gave Mr Ouattara a near 10-point margin.
The UN mission chief in the country rejected accusations that he had meddled in the Ivory Coast’s internal affairs. – (Reuters)
Man arrested in sting operation
WASHINGTON – A Baltimore man was arrested yesterday on charges that he plotted to detonate a vehicle bomb at a US army recruitment centre in Maryland, a plot that was a sting operation, the US justice department said.
Department spokesman Dean Boyd declined to identify the individual arrested, but a law enforcement official said he was a 21-year-old American citizen who had converted to Islam. The department said there was no danger to the public. – (Reuters)