W O R L D

Dubai, December 29

No review of execution, says PM

The ‘goodbye’ letter
‘Dear faithful people, I say goodbye to you,’ Saddam wrote
Baghdad, December 29
Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein urged Iraqis to embrace “brotherly coexistence” and not to hate US-led foreign troops in a goodbye letter posted on a Website the day after Iraq’s highest court upheld his death sentence and ordered him hanged within 30 days.

A flawed trial: Amnesty
The Supreme Iraqi Criminal Tribunal (SICT) imposted the death sentence on Saddam Hussein and two of his seven co-accused on Sunday, November 6, after a trial that was deeply flawed and unfair.

Food from cloned livestock safe: FDA
Washington, December 30
The government declared today that food from cloned animals is safe to eat. After more than five years of study, the Food and Drug Administration concluded that cloned livestock is “virtually indistinguishable” from conventional livestock.

Indian nurses face racist attack in UK
London, December 29
Nurses from India working in hospitals in north Liverpool have recently been attacked by racist thugs, leaving them terrified to move out of their flats, according to reports from Liverpool.

Govt forces fan out in Somalia
Mogadishu, December 29
Somali government troops and their Ethiopian allies took over the former US embassy in Mogadishu today, expanding their control of key locations in the capital a day after Islamist rivals fled, witnesses said.

Progress on new Iraq plan
Washington, December 29
US President George W. Bush said his cabinet was making progress towards a new strategy for the conflict in Iraq but did not reveal any details that might be contained in a final assessment.

10 Taliban killed
Kabul, December 29
NATO and Afghan forces killed more than 10 Taliban fighters during a clash in southern Afghanistan, the police said today.

Saddam has given messages to brothers: Lawyer

Dubai, December 29
In the shadow of the scaffold, Saddam Hussein met two of his half-brothers and passed on personal messages to his family, a lawyer said. Badie Aref, one of Saddam’s lawyers, said the rare meeting with maternal half-brothers Sabawi and Watban Ibrahim Hassan al-Tikriti, who are in US custody, was at the request of the ousted Iraqi leader and took place inside his heavily guarded prison cell in Baghdad yesterday.

The Iraqi government has declined to give any indication on when and how it was going to execute Saddam, overthrown by a US-led invasion in 2003. There have been conflicting views on whether the execution was imminent or would be in the coming few weeks. — Reuters

No review of execution, says PM

Baghdad, December 29
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al- Maliki said today in his first comments since a court upheld a death sentence on Saddam Hussein that there will be no review or delay in executing the former president, an aide said. The aide was confirming a newsflash on Iraqiya state television.

A senior Justice Ministry official told Reuters Saddam would not be executed until January 26 at the earliest, 30 days after the rejection of his appeal this week. — Reuters

The ‘goodbye’ letter
‘Dear faithful people, I say goodbye to you,’ Saddam wrote

Baghdad, December 29
Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein urged Iraqis to embrace “brotherly coexistence” and not to hate US-led foreign troops in a goodbye letter posted on a Website the day after Iraq’s highest court upheld his death sentence and ordered him hanged within 30 days.

“Dear faithful people, I say goodbye to you,” Saddam wrote. — Agencies

A flawed trial: Amnesty

The Supreme Iraqi Criminal Tribunal (SICT) imposted the death sentence on Saddam Hussein and two of his seven co-accused on Sunday, November 6, after a trial that was deeply flawed and unfair.

"(Sddam Hussein’s) overthrow opened the opportunity to restore the basic right (to a fair trial) and, at the same time, to ensure, fairly, accountability for the crimes of the past. It is an opportunity missed and made worse by the imposition of the death penalty.” — Amnesty International

Food from cloned livestock safe: FDA

Washington, December 30
The government declared today that food from cloned animals is safe to eat.

After more than five years of study, the Food and Drug Administration concluded that cloned livestock is “virtually indistinguishable” from conventional livestock.

FDA believes “that meat and milk from cattle, swine and goat clones is as safe to eat as the food we eat every day,” said Stephen F. Sundlof, director of the FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine.

Officials said they don’t think special labels are needed, although a decision on labeling is pending.

Because scientists concluded there is no difference between food from clones and food from other animals, “it would be unlikely that FDA would require labeling in those cases,” Sundlof said.

Final approval is still months away; the agency will accept comments from the public for the next three months.

Critics of cloning say the verdict is still out on the safety of food from cloned animals.

“Consumers are going to be having a product that has potential safety issues and has a whole load of ethical issues tied to it, without any labeling,” said Joseph Mendelson, legal director of the Center for Food Safety.

Carol Tucker Foreman, director of food policy at the Consumer Federation of America, said the FDA is ignoring research that shows cloning results in more deaths and deformed animals than other reproductive technologies.

The consumer federation will ask food companies and supermarkets to refuse to sell food from clones, she said.

“Meat and milk from cloned animals have no benefit for consumers, and consumers don’t want them in their foods,” Foreman said.

However, FDA scientists said that by the time clones reached 6 to 18 months of age, they are virtually indistinguishable from conventionally bred animals.

Labels should only be used if the health characteristics of a food are significantly altered by how it is produced, said Barb Glenn of the Biotechnology Industry Organization.

“The bottom line is, we don’t want to misinform consumers with some sort of implied message of difference,” Glenn said. “There is no difference. These foods are as safe as foods from animals that are raised conventionally.”

Those in favor of the technology say it would be used primarily for breeding and not for steak or pork tenderloin.

Cloning lets farmers and ranchers make copies of exceptional animals, such as pigs that fatten rapidly or cows that are superior milk producers.

“It’s not a genetically engineered animal; no genes have been changed or moved or deleted,” Glenn said. “It’s simply a genetic twin that we can then use for future matings to improve the overall health and well-being of the herd.”

Thus, consumers would mostly get food from their offspring and not the clones themselves, Glenn said.

Still, some clones would eventually end up in the food supply. — AP

Indian nurses face racist attack in UK

London, December 29
Nurses from India working in hospitals in north Liverpool have recently been attacked by racist thugs, leaving them terrified to move out of their flats, according to reports from Liverpool.

Four blocks of flats in Falconhall Road, Fazakerley, where the nurses recruited by the National Health Service reside, have been attacked. The racist abuse hurled at the nurses is reportedly getting worse.

Minu Subash, a nurse working at the Fazakerley hospital, was quoted as saying: “We are really afraid to go out at night because of young boys roaming around outside. I have stopped them trying to take my car and they tried to smash their way into a flat through the window.

“When you say anything to them or chase them away, you get ‘Paki this’ and ‘Paki that’. It is all the time.”

Rani Thomas, who works at the same hospital, told Liverpool Echo, a leading local daily: “We have all had some problems. There has been stone-throwing and cars have been damaged. People won’t go out at night because of it.”

Glenn McDowall, the landlord of the flats where the nurses reside, said: “Starting some months ago, local boys have been throwing eggs at the flats occupied by the Indian nurses and screaming abuse such as ‘Go home Pakis’. The harassment is now escalating.”

“Merseyside police has not been made aware of any of the incidents highlighted. However, now that it has been brought to our attention, we will speak with everyone concerned and will fully investigate each allegation,” Police inspector Paul Un-sworth, said.

“There has been a dedicated officer who works with the nurses via the hospital for more than a year now and she will be continuing to work with those in the local community,” he went on to say. — IANS

Govt forces fan out in Somalia

Mogadishu, December 29
Somali government troops and their Ethiopian allies took over the former US embassy in Mogadishu today, expanding their control of key locations in the capital a day after Islamist rivals fled, witnesses said.

''Ethiopian troops and government soldiers have settled in the compound of the former US embassy. I can see more than 30 Russian-made military trucks,'' said Abdi Hassan, one of hundreds of local residents gathered outside the former US mission.

The embassy compound, in a western neighbourhood of the coastal city, was abandoned more than a decade ago after US forces made a humiliating retreat from Somalia following an ill-fated mission depicted in the film ''Black Hawk Down''.

Government forces took effective control of Mogadishu on Thursday after a 10-day offensive with its Ethiopian allies to reclaim much of the territory seized by the Somalia Islamic Courts Council (SICC) since June.

The flight of the Islamists was a dramatic turn-around in the Horn of Africa nation after they had spread across the south imposing strict sharia rule and confining the interim government to its base in the provincial city of Baidoa until less than two weeks ago. — Reuters

Progress on new Iraq plan

10 Taliban killed

Kabul, December 29
NATO and Afghan forces killed more than 10 Taliban fighters during a clash in southern Afghanistan, the police said today.

Using machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, the Taliban attacked a police post late last night, said Khost provincial police commander Mohammad Ayub. The ensuing battle lasted more than an hour.

NATO forces called in a helicopter to attack the Taliban, Ayub said, adding that after the clash ended, the bodies of more than 10 Taliban were recovered.

A NATO spokesman, Major Dominic Whyte, said there were no dead or wounded among NATO troops. Ayub said there were also no casualties among Afghan forces.

The Taliban militia have stepped up attacks this year, particularly in southern Afghanistan, and waged fierce battles with Western and Afghan forces. -- AP