10 METRO Wednesday, September 16, 2009 D METROWorld Eulalio Lopez of Mexico taunts his bull during a bullfight during Toros Las Vegas 2009, a bloodless bullfighting exhibition, at the South Point hotel-casino in Las Vegas, Nevada Picture: Reuters AMERICA: A human rights groups senior military analyst has been suspended after a pro-Israel blog reported he collects Nazi memorabilia. Marc Garlasco is being suspended by Human Rights Watch pending an investigation, said Carroll Bogert, associate director of the organisation. A posting on Mere Rhetoric last week revealed Mr Garlascos hobby, which it said reflected an anti-Israel bias. Mr Bogert said Human Rights Watch has no evidence that Mr Garlascos hobby affected his analysis, and that he has never expressed any anti-Semitic or neo- Nazi statements. Mr Garlasco said he had never hidden his hobby, which he said stems from his family history. IndonEsIA: Flash floods swept away dozens of people in a remote mountain village before sunrise yesterday, leaving 15 dead and 25 missing. Search and rescue teams were deployed to the Madina district of North Sumatra, about 1,250km northwest of the capital, Jakarta. Hundreds of people fled their flooded homes. Medical supplies, food and tents were being delivered to the area, which is several hours by road from the nearest town. Seasonal downpours cause annual flash flooding in the country, a vast archipelago of 17,000 islands where millions of people live in mountainous areas or near fertile flood plains. FRAnCE: The interior minister has expressed regrets over the controversy prompted by recent remarks to an Arab man. An internet video shows Brice Hortefeux (pictured) being photographed at a political event with a young North African man. Mr Hortefeux is heard saying: When theres one, thats all right. Its when there are a lot of them that there are problems. He said the comments were misconstrued as racist. They led to criticism from rights groups and calls for his resignation. But Mr Hortefeux insists he was referring to having many photos taken. CHInA: A secret admirer terrified his would-be girlfriend after sending her a truckload of 20,000 red roses. Drama student Mingmei Niu was so shocked at the over-the-top gesture she told the driver to return all the blooms to the shop in Zhejiang province, in the east of the country. It was very creepy. Not the sort of thing a sane admirer would do, said one friend. nEtHERlAnds: The Yugoslav war crimes tribunal said yesterday it has approved the early release of former Bosnian Serb president Biljana Plavsic after she served two-thirds of her 11-year sentence for persecution. Plavsic, 79, one of the most senior political leaders ever convicted by the UN court, was sentenced in 2003 after she pleaded guilty to a single count of persecution, as part of an ethnic-cleansing campaign to drive Muslims and Croats out of Serb-controlled areas of Bosnia which resulted in 1,100 documented mass murders. MAlAysIA: A judge has ordered a Muslim man to be caned and jailed for drinking alcohol, two months after triggering a national debate by sentencing a woman to be whipped for a similar offence. Islamic High Court judge Abdul Rahman Yunos sentenced Nazarudin Kamaruddin to six lashes and a year in jail, and berated him for drinking during Ramadan. Consumption of alcohol is a punishable offence in only three of 13 states, and Muslims caught by religious authorities are usually let off with a warning or a fine. Observers have questioned the judges verdict, saying the Koran does not call for punishment for drinking alcohol, and that it infringes on civil rights. soutH KoREA: President Lee Myung-bak has said North Korea is showing no sign of giving up nuclear weapons, although the communist regime has made conciliatory gestures because UN sanctions against it are working. President Lee (pictured) also accused the North of trying to win economic aid while holding on to atomic weapons. He urged other members of the stalled six-nation talks with Pyongyang to redouble efforts to rid the North of nuclear weapons. North Korea pulled out of talks in April amid controversy over long-range rocket tests. AMERICA: A ten-year-old boy suspected of fatally shooting his father told officers he did it because the man was punishing him. Police in New Mexico allege the boy shot 42-year-old Bryon Hilburn with a rifle with his six- year-old sister in the room, then flagged down officers outside the familys home in Belen on August 27. District attorney Lemuel Martinez says his office has 60 days to review the case and determine whether to file charges against the boy in juvenile court. The name of the boy is being withheld because of his age. Police said he was being held at a psychiatric hospital in Albuquerque. The boy told police officers he had used his own rifle to shoot his father. protest deeply embarrassed Iraqs prime minister Nouri al-Maliki, who was standing beside Mr Bush at the December 14 news conference when Mr al-Zeidi stood up and hurled his shoes toward the podium. Mr Bush, who was on his final visit to Iraq as American president, was unhurt but had to duck twice to avoid being hit. Mr al-Zeidi was wrestled to the ground by security men. The reporter said that, after he was ar- rested, he was beaten with iron bars, whipped with cords and was elec- trocuted. In the morning, I was left in the cold weather after they splashed me with water, he said. He promised to reveal the names of senior officials in the Iraqi gov- ernment and army who he said were involved in mistreating him. An unrepentant Mr al-Zeidi said his actions were motivated by the US occupation and added that his country was still held captive. In January 2008, Mr al-Zeidi was arrestedbyUSsoldierswhosearched his apartment building and released him the next day with an apology. The year before that, Mr al-Zeidi, a Shiite, was kidnapped by gunmen while on an assignment in a Sunni district of north Baghdad. He was freed unharmed three days later af- ter Iraqi television stations broad- cast appeals for his release. Freed journalist: I fear for my lifeBy hamza hENDaWI THe Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at former US President George W Bush said yesterday he was tor- tured while in custody and now fear for his life from security forces. Muntadhar al-Zeidi was released after nine months in prison, and he said was subjected to beatings, whippings and electric shocks. His act of protest made him a hero around theArab and Muslim worlds. But he says he is in fear for his life. These fearsome services, the US intelligence services and its affiliat- ed services, will spare no efforts to track me as an insurgent revolution- ary ... in a bid to kill me, he told a news conference. And here I want to warn all my relatives and people close to me that these services will use all means to try to kill and liquidate me either physically, socially or professional- ly, he said. The 30-year-old reporters act of Freed: mr al-zeidi yesterday Commandos kill militant leader SOMALIAN insurgents al Shabaab have vowed to keep targeting Western nations after a US commando raid killed one of east Africas most wanted al-Qaeda suspects. US special forces in helicopters struck a car in the rebel-held south on Monday, killing Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, 28. The Kenyan-born militant is said to have built the truck bomb that killed 15 people at an Israeli-owned beach hotel in Kenya in 2002. Nabhan was killed along with four other foreign members of al Shabaab, an al- Qaeda-linked Islamist group. Ahlu Sunna Waljamaca, a moderate militia battling al Shabaab, praised the US raid and called for more strikes to wipe out foreign jihadists hiding out in Somalia. index.html2.html3.html4.html5.html6.html7.html8.html9.html10.html11.html12.html13.html14.html15.html16.html17.html18.html19.html20.html21.html22.html23.html