QUOTE OF THE DAY
“I think everyone is relieved and excited to be going onto the Australian icebreaker and then home.”
Chris Turney, the expedition leader on a Russian research ship that has been stuck in Antarctic ice for more than a week, after its 52 passengers were rescued Article, 2A
Musharraf in hospital instead of court
ISLAMABAD - The treason indictment of Pakistan’s former military ruler was postponed for the third time Thursday after the 70-year-old retired army general was suddenly taken to a military cardiac hospital with an undisclosed ailment instead of appearing in court to face the charges against him.
A three-member tribunal, formed to try ex-President Pervez Musharraf regarding the suspension of the constitution in 2007, announced that it would allow him more time because of his reported medical problems. The court then ordered him to appear Monday, but Musharraf’s lawyers said that would depend on his health.
Musharraf also failed to appear in court in December and again Wednesday, saying his life was in danger after police reported finding small quantities of explosives that day near his suburban farmhouse.
The latest delay in Musharraf’s case raised speculation in the Pakistani capital that a deal was being arranged to allow him to leave the country rather than face a civilian trial, which analysts believe could cause unrest in the country’s powerful military establishment.
A member of Musharraf’s legal team, Ahmed Kasuri, denied suggestions that the former army commander was trying to avoid facing the charges against him, which could carry the death penalty.
S. Sudan rebels said to dragoon civilians
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia - Rebels in South Sudan are forcibly recruiting civilians to march on the capital, the military said, even as representatives of the warring factions gathered in neighboring Ethiopia on Thursday for the start of peace talks.
The fighting underscored the challenge facing African mediators as they try to nudge President Salva Kiir and ousted Vice President Riek Machar toward the negotiating table after more than two weeks of bloody violence in the world’s newest country.
South Sudan has been plagued by ethnic tension and a power struggle within the ruling party that escalated after Kiir dismissed Machar as his vice president in July, with the violence boiling over in mid-December. The rebels back Machar, who is now a fugitive sought by the military.
Rebels currently hold Bor, the capital of the key oil-producing state of Jonglei. Military spokesman Col. Philip Aguer said the central government had sent in reinforcements from Juba, the capital.
He said rebels were arming reluctant civilians as they focus on their next target: Juba. It was not possible to independently verify Aguer’s account.
China slams U.S. for release of 3 Uighurs
BEIJING - The Chinese government Thursday criticized a U.S. decision to release to Slovakia three members of an ethnic minority from China who had been held at Guantanamo Bay.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said China had sought the repatriation of the Uighur men, who are considered by Chinese authorities to be terrorist suspects. The U.S.
said earlier this week it had released the men to the central European country of Slovakia.
The men were among about two dozen Uighurs captured in 2001 after the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan and kept at the U.S. base in Cuba. U.S. authorities did not turn them over to Beijing on fear they could be tortured. All 22 Uighurs who had been detained at Guantanamo Bay have now been resettled.
2 newspapers urge clemency for Snowden
LONDON - The New York Times and the British newspaper The Guardian have called for clemency for Edward Snowden, saying the privacy advocate should be praised rather than punished for his disclosures.
The papers - both of which have played a role in publishing Snowden’s intelligence trove - suggested late Wednesday that the former National Security Agency contractor’s revelations about the United States’ world-spanning espionage program were of such public importance that they outweighed any possible wrongdoing.
Front Section, Pages 6 on 01/03/2014