THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, AUGUST 20, 2012
PAGE 3
NEWS OF THE WORLD
AFRICA
Helicopter slams into mountain in Sudan, killing 32
KHARTOUM, Sudan --- A Sudanese helicopter carrying a government delegation crashed in a mountainous southern region on Sunday, killing all 32 people on board including a Cabinet minister, a former presidential adviser, two generals and a TV crew.
The delegation was travelling aboard a chartered helicopter to the volatile South Kordofan state to attend prayers on the first day of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the fasting month of Ramadan.
The helicopter went down "due to harsh weather conditions" near Talodi, a small town about 650 kilometers (406 miles) southwest of the capital, Khartoum, state-run news agency SUNA said.
A Sudanese official said the aircraft slammed into a mountain just before it was to land in Talodi, as seasonal heavy rains in the region left the pilots with "zero visibility". The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak to the media.
He said a search team that reached the site of the crash was having trouble identifying the victims as many bodies had been charred and torn to pieces.
The office of Sudan's President Oman al-Bashir released a list of all 26 passengers and six crew members who perished in the crash.
Minister of Endowment Ghadi al-Sadeq and a former adviser to al-Bashir, Makki Balayela, were on the list, as were the two generals and other officials. A four-member TV crew from Sudan's state television also died in the crash.
Sudan has a poor aviation safety record. In late 2010, a plane carrying 36 people crashed on landing in Sudan's western Darfur region, killing at least two people.
And in May 2008 — before South Sudan became a separate country — a plane crash in a remote area in the south killed 24 people.
Five years earlier, a Sudan Airways Boeing 737 en route from Port Sudan to Khartoum crashed soon after takeoff, killing all 115 people on board.
Associated Press
AFRICA
Somalian parliament to vote for new president
MOGADISHU, Somalia Members of Somalia's new parliament hold a vote to name a new president of the fledgling government on Monday, which marks the end of eight years of rule by a U.N.-backed leadership structure known as the Transitional Federal Government.
A committee tasked with the selection of the new parliament members released a list of the new 215-member parliament Sunday. The parliament will eventually have 275 members, but it currently has enough members to hold a vote for president by secret ballot.
Security has been tightened across the capital ahead of the vote with police and military troops patrolling the streets
The U.N. and other international partners helping the political process said Sunday that Somalia faces an unprecedented opportunity for greater peace and stability.
"The conclu-sion of
the Transition should mark the beginning of more representative government in Somalia," a statement from international partners, including the U.S. and EU, said. "Whilst Parliament remains a selected rather than elected body, it is essential that it cuts its ties with the past of self-interest and warlordism, and is populated by a new generation of Somali politicians, including the proper representation of Somali women."
Somalia devolved into anarchy in 1991 and hasn't had a fully functioning government since. But life has improved remarkably in Mogadishu over the last year, and the international community — if not Somali themselves — hold out hope that the new government will expand its powers and provide services to the country.
EUROPE
Hooliganism sentence spurs controversy
MOSCOW — Three punk rock-style activists who briefly took over a cathedral in a raucous prayer for deliverance from Vladimir Putin were sentenced to two years in prison for
hooliganism on Friday, a decision that drew protests around the world as it highlighted the Russian president's intensifying crackdown on dissent.
Madonna
condemned the prosecution of the three women, members of a band called Pussy Riot. Several countries, including the U.S., and even some Kremlin loyalists descried the verdict.
Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, Maria Alekhina, 24, and Yekaterina Samutsevich, 30, were arrested in March after performing a "punk prayer" in
Christ the Savior Cathedral, dancing and high-kicking as they called on the Virgin Mary to save Russia from Putin, who was elected to a third term as Russia's president two weeks later.
Judge Marina Syrova ruled Friday that the band members had "committed hooliganism driven by religious hatred." She rejected the women's arguments that they were protesting the Russian Orthodox Church's support for Putin and didn't intend to offend religious believers.
Putin himself had said the band members shouldn't be judged too harshly, creating expectations that they could be sentenced to time served and freed in the courtroom. This, however, would have left the impression that Putin had bowed to public pressure, something he has resisted throughout his 12 years in power.
EUROPE
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Julian Assange, founder of Wikileaks makes a statement from a balcony of the Equador Embassy in London on Sunday. Assange called on United States President Barack Obama to end a "witch hunt" against the secret-spilling Wikileks organization.
WikiLeaks founder safeguarded in Ecuador, future unknown
LONDON — WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange urged President Barack Obama to end a so-called "witch hunt" against his secret-spilling website, appearing in public Sunday for the first time since he took refuge two months ago inside Ecuador's Embassy in London to avoid extradition to Sweden on sex crimes allegations.
The 41-year-old Australian, who has fought for two years against efforts to send him to Sweden for questioning over alleged sexual misconduct against two women, addressed several hundred supporters and reporters as he spoke from the small balcony of Ecuador's mission, watched by dozens of British police.
Praising Correa, Assange said "a courageous Latin American nation took a stand for justice," in offering him sanctuary, but did not refer to the Swedish allegations against him. Instead, he attempted to shift attention to what he claims are preparations in the U.S. to punish him for the publication by WikiLeaks of a trove of American diplomatic and military secrets — including 250,000 U.S. Embassy cables that highlight sometimes embarrassing
Ecuador's President Rafael Correa on Thursday granted Assange asylum and he remains out of reach of British authorities while he is inside the country's embassy. Britain insists that if he steps outside, he will be detained and sent to Sweden, by as law it must meet the obligations of a European arrest warrant.
"The United States must dissolve its FBI investigation. The United States must vow that it will not seek to prosecute our staff or our supporters," he said, wearing a formal blue shirt and red tie.
"I ask President Obama to do the right thing. The United States must renounce its witch hunt against WikiLeaks." Assange said, speaking from a first-floor balcony decorated with an Ecuadorian flag, standing just yards (meters) away from British police officers.
Assange and his supporters claim the Swedish case is merely the opening gambit in a Washington-orchestrated plot to make him stand trial in the U.S.
backroom dealings.
— something disputed by both Swedish authorities and the women involved.
A Virginia grand jury is studying evidence that might link Assange to Pfc. Bradley Manning, the U.S. soldier who is awaiting trial on charges of aiding the enemy by passing the secret files to WikiLeaks. No action against Assange has yet been taken.
In purportedly targeting WikLeaks, the U.S. risks "dragging us all into a dark, repressive world in which journalists live under fear of prosecution," Assange said.
The White House declined comment Sunday, but on Saturday it said Assange's fate is an issue for Sweden, Britain and Ecuador to resolve.
Assange also urged the U.S. to release
"I think these allegations are just a way of getting to him," said Laura Matttson, a 29-year-old supporter from London who joined a raucous crowd outside the embassy. "Is it about the charges or is it about silencing Wikileaks?"
Manning, but said: "If Bradley Manning really did as he is accused, he is a hero, an example to us all, and one of the world's foremost political prisoners."
The WikieLeaks founder give no indication of how he believes the stalemate over his future may be resolved, though he said he hoped to be "reunited soon" with his two children.
South America's foreign ministers were to meet in Guayaquil, Ecuador, on Sunday at the host nation's request to discuss the case. On Friday, foreign ministers of the Organization of American states are to convene in Washington to discuss the standoff.
Assange claimed to have won support from a host of other Latin American, Central American and South American nations — including Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Argentina. However, Brazil and Colombia both insisted they haven't endorsed Ecuador's decision.
Former Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzon, who is representing Assange, said Sunday that Ecuador could consider making an appeal to the International Court of Justice in the Hague to compel Britain to grant Assange safe passage out of the country.
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