FrEe LaTeSt UpDaTe

Federal judge orders Chinese Muslims be released from Guantanamo

A federal judge ordered that 17 Uighurs be released from Guantanamo Bay to the U.S. It was the first time a judge ordered the release of a detainee and the first time a judge ordered that a foreign national held by the U.S. outside the U.S. be transferred stateside. The Chinese Muslims fled Chinese persecution and settled in Afghanistan, where they were detained in 2001. U.S. officials fear what will happen to them if they are transferred to Chinese authorities. The Washington Post (10/8) , Los Angeles Times (free registration) (10/8)

• Ban: Visit to Myanmar unlikely 
• UN: Almost 1 billion live in urban slums 
• Ecuador expels Ecuadorean workers from overcrowded Galapagos 
• Moscow news chief cites obstruction in probe of reporter's death 
• Career Center 
• Financial crisis tests EU unity 

• Ban: Visit to Myanmar unlikely
  Plans to visit Myanmar may be shelved indefinitely if there is no significant indication that such a visit would result in tangible gains on efforts to promote democracy, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Tuesday. Ban has repeatedly dispatched top level envoy Ibrahim Gambari to Myanmar, but there has been little evidence of progress. AlertNet.org/Reuters (10/7)

• Talks under way with Ukraine on Darfur support
  The Ukraine may be prepared to offer helicopters to shore up the United Nations-led peacekeeping mission in Darfur, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Tuesday. Efforts to deploy a robust peacekeeping force into the troubled region have been hampered by obstructions thrown up by Khartoum and a lack of equipment commitments by the international community to support the force. AlertNet.org/Reuters (10/7)

• Internal UN report assigns responsibility for Algeria security failures
  At least seven United Nations officials share blame with Algerian authorities for the security breakdowns related to the deadly bombing of UN offices in Algeria last December, according to an internal UN report scheduled to be released today. The Washington Times (10/8)

• UN: Almost 1 billion live in urban slums
  The number of urban slim dwellers worldwide continues to rise and has, for the first time, crossed the 1 billion mark and poses one of the biggest challenges for development, United Nations-Habitat Executive Director Anna Tibaijuka said Monday. AllAfrica Global Media/Daily Trust (10/6)

• Report: Circumcision, HIV/AIDS protection benefits limited
  Homosexual and bisexual men may not experience the same HIV preventative benefits of circumcision as heterosexual males, according to a report published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The New York Times/Reuters (10/7)

• Chinese lawyers claim harassment over baby formula cases
  Lawyers representing parents of children affected by tainted baby formula say Chinese authorities are putting pressure on them to abandon their efforts. more than 100 lawyers across China have been offering free legal advice to families with some planning for a potential joint lawsuit if the government fails to provide compensation. The Toronto Star/The Associated Press (10/7)

• Hemorrhagic fever strikes, mystifies South Africa
  A woman from Lusaka, Zambia, is suspected to have been patient zero in a hemorrhagic fever crisis that has claimed more than 100 lives in South Africa. The UN World Health Organization has been flown into Johannesburg to investigate the cause of the disease. BBC (10/8)

• Ecuador expels Ecuadorean workers from overcrowded Galapagos
  Authorities in the Galapagos Islands of Ecuador have begun deporting Ecuadorean residents and workers back to the mainland as a way to address a population increase -- caused primarily by tourism -- that threatens the island's unique natural ecosystem. Los Angeles Times (free registration) (10/8)

• Other News

• Discovery of glowing proteins garners Nobel Prize
  Financial Times (10/8)

• WWF: Italy's actions threaten bluefin tuna
  The Toronto Star/The Associated Press (10/7)

• Moscow news chief cites obstruction in probe of reporter's death
  Though Moscow prosecutors have narrowed the field of individuals suspected of paying for the slaying of reporter Anna Politkovskaya, their investigations into the gunman and the person who ordered the killing have encountered deliberate obstruction by Russian security service officials, according to the editor in chief of Politkovskaya's newspaper, Novaya Gazeta. Politkovskaya, a fierce critic of the Kremlin, was shot repeatedly near her apartment two years ago. The Washington Post (10/8)

Chief of Party, Iraq Community Action Program III International Relief and Development (IRD) Iraq Assistant Country Director CARE USA Kabul, Afghanistan Administrative Assistant Center on Global Counterterrorism Cooperation Washington, DC IDIQ Program Manager, USA International Relief and Development (IRD) Arlington, VA IDIQ Program Manager International Relief and Development (IRD) Iraq Project Director, Cultural Heritage Project International Relief and Development (IRD) Arlington, VA Project Coordinator, Cultural Heritage Project International Relief and Development (IRD) Erbil, Iraq Senior Program Officer, Infrastructure International Relief and Development (IRD) Arlington, VA Technical/Proposal Writer, Democracy &Governance International Relief and Development (IRD) Arlington, VA Finance Associate Friends of the World Food Program Washington DC Director of Development Freedom House Washington, DC Finance and Accounting Officer (Reforming Family Law Program) - Kuwait Freedom House Kuwait Program Officer (Reforming Family Law Program) -- Kuwait Freedom House Kuwait Project Director (Reforming Family Law Program) -- Kuwait Freedom House Kuwait General Manager CHF International Afghanistan

• Financial crisis tests EU unity
  The current economic crisis is driving a wedge into the ideal of unified European financial policy, as individual members of the European Union act individually to protect their own citizens and banking institutions. The New York Times (10/8)

• Iceland verging on national default
  Iceland, whose banks' assets amounted to 10 times the country's gross domestic product at the end of 2007, has been the worst hit among all European nations by the financial crisis. Several banks have been nationalized and boards sacked as the country teeters on the brink of bankruptcy. The UK further complicated the scenario Iceland faces by announcing that it would sue for the savings of UK customers who held deposits in Icesave, an online bank based in Iceland. The Independent (London) (10/8) , Financial Times (10/8)

• Mexican mayor assassinated for resisting cartel, prosecutors say
  Prosecutors say that Salvador Vergara Cruz, a popular mayor of a Mexico City-area resort town who had close connections with the state governor, was murdered by hooded criminals with semiautomatics over Cruz's refusal to allow criminal trafficking through the city. Several of the 14 suspects arrested in the murder claim to represent La Familia, a drug gang that has tried to make inroads through Mexico City. Los Angeles Times (free registration) (10/8)

• Kenya adds to pressure on Somali pirates
  Kenya announced that it is deploying its navy to join the cadre of foreign warships that have surrounded a cargo ship seized by Somali pirates -- who demand ransom. Kenya begged off on questions about the final destination of the cargo, ostensibly bound for Kenya, including tanks and surface-to-air systems. Mail & Guardian (South Africa) (10/8)

• Other News

• South Korea tracks North's missile tests
  The New York Times (10/8)

• Russians leaving Georgia buffer zone
  BBC (10/8)

• South Africa ANC heads for a split
  The New York Times (10/8)

• Thai unrest sparks violent clashes
  The Globe and Mail (Toronto)/The Associated Press (10/7)

• U.S. denies that jet was forced to make Iran landing
  Los Angeles Times (10/8)

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