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UPI NewsTrack TopNews
Military judge tosses detainee case
GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba, May 13 (UPI) -- A judge at the tribunal at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, refused charges filed by prosecutors against Mohammed al-Qahtani, an alleged Sept. 11 conspirator.
Immigration authorities in 2001 detained Qahtani, a Saudi national, in Orlando, Fla., and U.S. officials suspect he was to have been the 20th hijacker to take part in the Sept. 11 attacks.
Judge Susan Crawford, the presiding military official at the U.S. war crimes tribunal for alleged terrorists, dismissed charges against al-Qahtani. Charges against five other high-profile suspects, including Khalid Sheik Mohammad and Ramzi bin al-Shibh, remain intact, CNN said Tuesday.
Crawford's reasoning for dismissing the charges are not public. Al-Qahtani remains classified as an "enemy combatant" and military officials can refile the charges.
U.S. officials seek the death penalty for all of the suspects.
China quake toll tops 12,000
BEIJING, May 13 (UPI) -- Rescue workers in southwestern China Tuesday said they pulled 1,000 people from the rubble caused by a massive 7.9-magnitude earthquake.
Officials said more than 12,000 people died in Monday's temblor and 26,000 were injured. It was unclear how many of the 1,000 pulled from the debris Tuesday were alive.
CNN reported the rescue took place in Wenchuan, the epicenter of the quake, where only 3,000 of the town's 12,000 residents were estimated to have survived.
As many as 25,000 people in Sichuan province are believed trapped in the debris.
The quake struck southwestern China Monday afternoon, collapsing buildings and burying tens of thousands of people. The initial shaking was followed by more than 30 smaller jolts within 24 hours.
Li Chengyun, vice governor of Sichuan province, said 12,000 people had died in that province alone and more than 26,000 were injured, CNN reported. Some 3.5 million homes were destroyed.
About 17,000 Chinese soldiers joined a huge relief effort and 34,000 armed forces were traveling by all modes of transport -- even walking -- to the southwestern province.
Xinhua, quoting a witness, reported the road from Dujiangyan, northwest of the provincial capital Chengdu, to Wenchuan was blocked by rocks and mud slides, hampering relief efforts.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao ordered troops to reach the epicenter even if that required walking, Xinhua reported.
China Daily said the quake devastated several small cities and towns set against the steep and forested hills northwest of Chengdu.
The disaster knocked out telephone networks in Chengdu, leaving the provincial capital's 10 million people without communications.
Chinese quake survivors evacuated
MANYANG , China, May 13 (UPI) -- Chinese officials Tuesday said they have evacuated more than 10,000 people from the earthquake-ravaged provinces in southwestern China.
Most of those evacuated were students, the official Chinese news agency Xinhua reported. They were taken to the Jiuzhou Indoor Stadium in Mianyang where 7,395 deaths were reported from Monday's seismic jolt. Overall, some 12,000 deaths have been confirmed in Sinchuan province.
Zhang Xiaoying, a volunteer at the rescue station set up in the stadium, told Xinhua some survivors are so traumatized they'd rather stand outside in the rain than be inside the covered stadium.
North Korea nuclear documents studied
WASHINGTON, May 13 (UPI) -- The U.S. State Department's director of Korean affairs said Tuesday exports are poring over a mountain of documents on North Korea's nuclear program.
Sung Kim was in North Korea last week and brought back the documents. He said he held substantive talks with representatives from the country's Foreign Ministry and General Department of Atomic Energy and told a State Department briefing Congress would be apprised of what the documents contain as soon as possible.
North Korea had been under a Jan. 1 deadline to outline its nuclear program but missed it. Intelligence data indicate the North Koreans had been sharing their nuclear technology with Syria. Six-party talks involving North and South Korea, China, Japan, the United States and Russia are to resume.
"I do think these documents are an important first step in terms of verifying North Korea's declaration (of its nuclear program). Obviously, the documents themselves alone are not enough. We would need to conduct a very full verification, including access to their facilities, sampling, interviews with personnel involved in the programs. But these offerings are an important first step," Kim said.
Kim said North Korea has yet to discharge spent fuel from its reactor, disable of the control rod mechanism and disable the fresh fuel rods in dismantling its nuclear efforts, although eight other actions have been completed. He said the process has slowed because Pyongyang wants to link it to energy aid.
Bush sends nuke treaty to Congress
WASHINGTON, May 13 (UPI) -- U.S. President George Bush Tuesday formally sent to Congress a proposed agreement on nuclear energy cooperation with Russia, the White House said.
"The proposed agreement provides a comprehensive framework for peaceful nuclear cooperation with Russia based on a mutual commitment to nuclear non-proliferation," the president's message said. "It has a term of 30 years, and permits the transfer of technology, material, equipment (including reactors), and components for nuclear research and nuclear power production. It does not permit transfers of restricted data, and permits transfers of sensitive nuclear technology, sensitive nuclear facilities, and major critical components of such facilities ... In the event of termination, key non-proliferation conditions and controls continue with respect to material and equipment subject to the agreement."
Reporters questioned White House Press Secretary Dana Perino whether Congress has time to act on the proposed agreement, since there are less than 90 days left in the term.
Perino said she would check "on the specifics of the timing."
Indian bomb blasts kill 60 in Jaipur
JAIPUR, India, May 13 (UPI) -- Bomb blasts in the Indian city of Jaipur killed at least 60 people Tuesday and injured scores more.
The bombs went off almost simultaneously in the old city. Seven bombs went off within 12 minutes while an eighth was defused, CNN said.
"According to the information I have received 60 people have died and 150 have been injured," Chief Minister of Rajasthan Vasundhara Raje said.
The Times of India cited sources in the Home Ministry who blamed the blasts on a Bangladeshi Islamist group, Harkut-ul-Jehadi Islami. One of the bombs exploded near the Hanuman Temple, which was crowded with devotees of the Hindu monkey god.
Some of the other bombs were aimed at areas popular with tourists.
Jaipur, formerly the capital of the state of the same name, was founded in 1727 about 160 miles southwest of New Delhi. It is nicknamed the "Pink City" for its many buildings of pink stucco, designed to imitate sandstone.
Copyright 2008 by United Press International
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