Submariners World News SitRep

Osama Bin Laden’s driver wins appeals court reversal

Osama Bin Laden’s former driver Salim Hamdan has had his conviction by a military tribunal thrown out as a US appeals court found he was wrongly tried under a law that did not exist at the time of his alleged crimes. Hamdan, who was captured during the US invasion of Afghanistan in November 2001 and sent to Guantanamo Bay detention facility two months later, was the first terror suspect found guilty after the 9/11 attacks. He was convicted of providing material support for terrorism for serving as Bin Laden’s driver in Afghanistan.

Mali intervention ‘weeks away’ – French defense minister

France’s Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian has said an international military intervention in the West African nation of Mali is just weeks away. The European Union is ready to train the Malian army and support an international intervention, “which has to happen at one point or another,” he told France-2 television on Tuesday. Europe would provide logistical and intelligence help, the minister said. He stressed that African forces would “take direction of the operation” against Islamist extremists and that France, Mali's former colonial ruler, would not deploy forces.

Egypt’s top court slams constitution draft

Egypt's Supreme Constitutional Court (SCC) has criticized an Islamist-led panel tasked with writing the country’s new constitution. Court member Tahani el-Gibaly described the provisions as “disastrous.” She stressed the panel ignored proposals to allow courts, rather than the country's president, to choose the members and head, AP reported. SCC head Maher el-Behiri said the court is in permanent session in protest. Another court is set to rule on challenges to the panel drafting the constitution.

Jordan to hold general election on January 23

Jordan’s Independent Election Commission on Tuesday set the date for country's general election for January 23, state news agency Petra reported. The decision was taken “in line with a royal decree to hold the upcoming parliamentary elections,” the commission said in a statement. The commission said on Monday that 2.27 million voters have registered for the elections, or 70 per cent of the electorate.

Myanmar President Thein Sein re-elected as ruling party leader

Myanmar's reformist President Thein Sein was re-appointed on Tuesday as head of the country's military-backed ruling party. Thein Sein relinquished an active role within his Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) to become president of the country last year at the end of nearly half a century of military rule, AFP reported. At Tuesday’s conference, Lower House Speaker Shwe Mann, a fellow reformer, was named the acting party chairman to handle day-to-day party business. Thein Sein is said to have been locked in a power struggle with Shwe Mann, who was more senior under the previous military regime.

S&P rating agency downgrades 7 Spanish banks

The Standard & Poor's rating agency cut the debt ratings of seven Spanish banks due to the economic crisis in the country. The banks include Santander, BBVA, Banesto, Banco Popular, Bankia-BFA, Banco Sabadell and CaixaBank, the rating agency said on Tuesday. Last week, S&P downgraded Spain’s sovereign credit rating from BBB+ to BBB-. S&P earlier said the capacity of Spain’s political institutions to deal with the challenges posed by the economic and financial crisis “is declining.”

72.4 million forced migrants worldwide - Red Cross

The Red Cross said on Tuesday that natural disasters, political upheaval, violence and development projects have forced some 72.4 million people to migrate from their homes worldwide. “This figure rises relentlessly every year, and most migrants are either in protracted displacement situations or permanently dispossessed,” the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said in its annual World Disasters Report. Forced migration costs the international community around US$8 billion a year, AFP said, citing the document. Conflicts in Syria, Mali, the Horn of Africa and Libya had led to the displacement of around 26.4 million people within their own states.

Iraq probes alleged corruption at central bank

Iraqi authorities have begun an investigation into allegations of financial impropriety involving the governor of the central bank and 16 senior bank officials. The Iraqi Integrity Commission, the country’s anti-corruption watchdog, received documents from a parliamentary committee investigating the corruption allegations. The probe is connected to alleged manipulation of the local currency’s value, AFP reported. MP Baha al-Araji said the investigation was “not about money, but about procedures that led to the weakening of the dinar against the US dollar.”

Switzerland blocks $1bn in 'Arab Spring' assets

Switzerland has blocked nearly one billion Swiss francs (US$1.07 billion) in stolen assets linked to former rulers in Egypt, Libya, Syria and Tunisia, the Swiss Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday. Swiss authorities are cooperating with Tunisia and Egypt to speed restoration of the funds, 700 million francs of which are tied to former President Hosni Mubarak, Reuters quoted Valentin Zellweger, head of the ministry’s international law department, as saying. “Today a total of one billion francs is blocked in the framework of the Arab Spring,” he said in Geneva.

Turkey has spent $220mln on Syrian refugees – minister

Ankara has spent 400 million lira (US$220 million) from the budget on accommodating refugees fleeing the crisis in neighboring Syria, Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek said on Tuesday, as cited by Reuters. On Monday, the Turkish disaster management agency (AFAD) announced that the number of Syrian refugees housed in camps in southern Turkey has exceeded 100,000.

Finland court refuses to return children to Russian mother

Judge Reja Suni of the Helsinki Administrative Court has upheld the decision to separate Russian mother Anastasia Zavgorodnyaya from her newborn baby and other children. Zavgorodnyaya received the court’s ruling on Monday after she requested to annul the decision to separate her from her children, Interfax said. No charges were listed against her, but the court explained the move by saying that the father “could spank the children.” Zavgorodnyaya’s six-year-old daughter Veronika had allegedly said that her father had spanked her.

Erdogan, Ahmadinejad meet in Baku – reports

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on the sidelines the 12th Summit of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) in Baku, Azerbaijan on Tuesday, media reports say. The 40-minute meeting was closed, and no statement has been issued, Today's Zaman daily said, adding that the situation in Syria was likely to be discussed. Earlier reports said Erdogan and Ahmadinejad were not to conduct a one-on-one meeting at the summit.

Iran calls fresh EU sanctions 'inhumane'

Unilateral EU and US sanctions against Iran are “irrational, illegal and inhumane, and are against the Iranian nation,” Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said. On Tuesday, he accused the West of using the nuclear issue as a pretext to apply pressure on Tehran for “insisting on its own independence,” AFP reported. “Even if our nuclear issue is resolved, these countries will certainly use other excuses to put pressure on us,” the official said. The EU toughened sanctions against Iran on Monday, targeting dealings with Iran's banks, shipping and gas imports and banning trade in metals.

Karadzic opens defense, says wanted ‘to avoid war’

Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic opened his defense in his genocide trial Tuesday in The Hague, Netherlands. He described himself as a “mild man, a tolerant man” who worked to reduce casualties on all sides in the bloody 1992-95 Bosnian conflict, AP said. Karadzic told judges at the tribunal for the former Yugoslavia he “did everything humanly possible to avoid the war.” He faces charges including genocide and crimes against humanity. In another of the tribunal’s courtrooms, the trial of Goran Hadzic, a former leader of rebel Serbs in Croatia, got underway.

Gunmen kill 4 Shiites in southwestern Pakistan

Gunmen shot dead four Shiite Muslims on Tuesday, in a sectarian attack in Pakistan’s southwestern province of Baluchistan, police said. Those killed ran junk and scrap shops in Kabari Market in Quetta, the provincial capital. “It was a sectarian attack. Gunmen on motorbikes opened fire on them and drove away,” AFP quoted Asif Ghafoor, a senior police official, as saying. The victims were critically injured and died on their way to hospital, another police official Riasat Ali said. The province, which borders Afghanistan and Iran, is plagued by sectarian violence between the minority Shiite and majority Sunni community, by Taliban attacks and a separatist insurgency.

Cuban authorities scrap exit visa requirement

The Cuban government will no longer require citizens to apply for an exit visa. The decision announced in Communist Party newspaper Granma on Tuesday eliminates a major bureaucratic impediment for many seeking to travel overseas, AP said. Cubans will also no longer have to present a letter of invitation to travel abroad. The rule change takes effect January 13, and islanders will only have to show their passport and a visa from the country they are traveling to. The amount of time Cubans can remain abroad will be 24 months and could be extended, compared to current 11 months.

Final accusations brought against defendants in Politkovskaya case

The Russian Investigative Committee has brought final accusations against five defendants in the murder case of journalist Anna Politkovskaya on Tuesday. The investigation has been completed “against five defendants, namely brothers Rustam, Ibragim and Dzhabrail Makhmudovs, Sergey Khadzhikurbanov and Lom-Ali Gaitukayev,” spokesman for the committee Vladimir Markin told Itar-Tass. They are accused of murder and illegal arms circulation, he said. Politkovskaya, who wrote on the North Caucasus and human rights, was gunned down outside her apartment in Moscow on October 7, 2006. The relatives of the Novaya Gazeta reporter said on Tuesday they do not think the investigation complete and “do not know about any progress in the inquest,” Interfax reported.

Five arrested at protest rally in Kuwait

At least five protesters were arrested in Kuwait as police tried to break up an opposition protest late on Monday, according to witnesses. At least 5,000 people gathered in a square near parliament as protesters called on the emir to set a date for upcoming parliamentary elections, Reuters said. Several people, including police, were reportedly injured when demonstrators clashed with police as they tried to spread into a barricaded street.

Clinton 'takes responsibility' for security in Benghazi prior to consular attack

­US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said in an interview with CNN that she is ultimately to blame for the insufficient security at the US Embassy in Benghazi, Libya, which faced a deadly assault this September. "I take responsibility" for the incident, in which the US ambassador to Libya was killed along with three of his staff, Clinton said. It was the Secretary of State's first time commenting on the attack in public.

Israel dissolves parliament ahead of early election

The Knesset has voted to dissolve itself ahead of early elections set for January 2013. The dissolution was approved by 100 votes out of 120. This comes after Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu announced last week that he would order new elections, saying the current Knesset could not agree on a new budget. The lawmakers will continue their work until a new parliament is elected. The new government will be formed based on the results of the vote. At the moment the incumbent Netanyahu, the leader of conservative Likud Party, is seen as the frontrunner of the race.

Fifteen blasts rock restive Nigerian city

At least 15 explosions and gunfire have been heard Monday in the northeastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri as government forces battle Islamist militants there, AP reports citing witnesses on the ground. Soldiers have locked down most of the city center, but it was unclear what exactly happened in Maiduguri as authorities have not commented on the situation. The city has seen growing violence connected with extremist group Boko Haram, which is responsible for most of the terror attacks in Nigeria. The sect has killed more than 690 people this year alone, according to an AP count.

Egypt to probe Muslim Brotherhood leaders

­Egypt is launching an investigation of two Muslim Brotherhood leaders on allegations that they instigated violence against protesters critical of President Mohammed Morsi, AP reports. The prosecutor general ordered to probe of Mohammed el-Beltagy and Essam el-Erian on Monday following Friday clashes between supporters and critics of Morsi, who comes from the Islamist party. The investigation was based on complaints from female activists who accused the two leading members of inciting Brotherhood protesters to attack them and other protesters during what began as a peaceful demonstration against Morsi's policies.