Court accepts appeal by Pearl family
ISLAMABAD -- Pakistan's Supreme Court on Monday accepted an appeal by the family of slain American journalist Daniel Pearl seeking to keep a British-born Pakistani man on death row over the beheading of the Wall Street Journal reporter.
The court delayed until next week hearing the appeal over the lower-court acquittal of Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, who had been on death row since his conviction in 2002 over Pearl's killing.
The Supreme Court ordered Sheikh to remain in custody, but Faisal Siddiqi, the lawyer for Pearl's family, told The Associated Press on Monday that the court will decide next week whether Sheikh will remain imprisoned during the course of the appeal, which could be years.
The government has argued against Sheikh's release, despite his acquittal in April, saying it would endanger the public. But the Supreme Court will rule on that next week, Siddiqi said. He said Pakistan's top court expressed concern about keeping Sheikh locked up even though he stands acquitted.
"The appeal could take years," said Siddiqi. "Today the court admitted the appeal and next week it will decide if Sheikh stays in jail" until the appeal is decided. The family is arguing for Sheikh's continued incarceration.
Sheikh had been convicted of helping lure Pearl to a meeting in the southern Pakistani port city of Karachi in which he was kidnapped. The lower court's April ruling acquitted Sheikh and found him guilty on a single lesser charge of abduction, which he is also appealing.
Libyan sides return to negotiations
CAIRO -- Libyan rivals on Monday restarted military and security talks, aiming to reach a settlement that could help end the county's yearslong conflict, the United Nations said.
The U.N. support mission in Libya said in a brief statement that military and police teams from eastern and western Libya met in Egypt's Red Sea resort of Hurghada.
The face-to-face military talks came amid international pressure on both sides of the war and their foreign backers to avert an attack on the strategic city of Sirte, after a yearlong assault on the capital, Tripoli, by forces of military commander Khalifa Hifter collapsed this summer.
The U.N. mission said both sides have demonstrated "a positive and proactive attitude aimed at de-escalation of the situation in central Libya."
The outcome of the Egypt-based negotiations will be mainstreamed into U.N.-brokered military talks, the U.N. mission said.
Disease blamed in deaths of elephants
HARARE, Zimbabwe -- Parks authorities in Zimbabwe said Monday that the recent deaths of elephants have been caused by a bacterial disease that has previously affected elephants in Asia and other animals in southern Africa, although more tests will still be carried out.
Fulton Mangwanya, the director-general of the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority, told a parliamentary committee that 34 elephants have died so far and "many" more could still die "in the short term."
"All results to date point to the cause of these elephant deaths being a disease known as hemorrhagic septicemia," said Mangwanya, noting that the disease does not appear to have been previously recorded as causing deaths among Africa's savannah elephants.
"However, it has been reported to kill Asian elephants in India. It has also affected cattle, pigs and chickens in southern Africa in which it can cause massive mortality. It has also been recognized in buffalo and some other wildlife species in this part of this world," he said.
Most of the elephants that died recently in the Pandamasue Forest were weak or young, mostly under 15 years old.
Ruling upholds ban on Catalan leader
MADRID -- Catalonia's outgoing regional president has called on voters to advance the cause of separatism from Spain after the country's Supreme Court barred him from office for disobeying the country's electoral law.
The top court's ruling earlier on Monday upheld a previous decision to remove Quim Torra as the chief of the northeastern region for refusing to remove a banner that called for the release of imprisoned separatist leaders and was displayed on a public building before the 2019 general election.
The ruling has triggered a new period of political uncertainty in the northeastern region where a demand by some for independence has caused the country's biggest constitutional crisis in decades.
According to the existing regulations, Torra's deputy, Pere Aragones, should take over as president-in-charge until the regional parliament elects a new leader or a new election is held.
Pro-secession activists reacted by calling for protests later Monday in the regional capital, Barcelona.
Torra called on Catalans to turn the next regional election into a de-facto plebiscite on independence by voting for separatists and vowed to take his appeal against Monday's ruling to European courts.
-- Compiled by Democrat-Gazette staff from wire reports