Genocide case forces peace staff to leave

Khartoum The United Nations began withdrawing peacekeeping staff from Darfur yesterday as diplomats and aid workers continued to gauge the impact of accusing the Sudanese President of genocide (Rob Crilly writes).

For a third day, demonstrators took to the streets of Khartoum in support of President al-Bashir. On Monday the International Criminal Court accused him of three counts of genocide, five counts of crimes against humanity and two of murder.

General Martin Agwai, head of a joint African Union and UN force of 10,000 peacekeepers in Darfur, said that the heightened risk had forced the removal of some personnel. “We are looking at staff who are not essential and are relocating them,” he said.

Rival war games

Tbilisi The US and Russia held rival war games on either side of the Caucasus amid tensions over the fate of two rebel regions in the former Soviet Georgia. Almost 8,000 Russians and 1,650 US and Georgian servicemen took part in the exercises. (AFP)

Blair security alert

Gaza City Tony Blair, the international Middle East peace envoy, cancelled what would have been his first trip to the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip because of a security threat, his spokeswoman said. His convoy turned back on the road. (AFP)

Murderer pardoned

Jerusalem President Peres pardoned Samir Qantar, a Lebanese serving a life sentence for a murder spree in 1979, as part of a deal with Hezbollah to secure the release of two Israeli soldiers captured by the group in 2006. (Reuters)

Killer OAP gets life

Los Angeles Helen Golay, 77, and Olga Rutterschmidt, 75, dubbed the “Black Widows” for befriending and murdering homeless men in Los Angeles to collect millions of dollars in life insurance, were jailed for life with no possibility of parole. (AFP)

Mothers turned back

Sarajevo Mothers of victims of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre said that more than 100 Bosnian Serb police stopped them visiting one of the sites of the mass murders of Muslim men and boys. They wanted to lay flowers at the site. (AFP)

'Sodomy' warning

Kuala Lumpur Anwar Ibrahim vowed in the first live TV debate between a Malaysian opposition leader and a minister that he would lower petrol prices if he won power. He was warned earlier that he faced arrest over new accusations of sodomy. (AFP)

Border stand-off

Phnom Penh Tension flared on Cambodia’s border with Thailand after a Thai soldier was injured by a landmine and about 100 Thai troops were held near an ancient temple in a territorial dispute. Officials were trying to resolve the stand-off. (AFP)

Fishermen strike

Tokyo Hundreds of thousands of Japanese fishermen went on strike to demand government help with soaring oil prices. About 3,000 marched through Tokyo giving warning that the industry, the pride of fish-loving Japan, could collapse. (Reuters)

Koala clings on

Canberra A male koala was dubbed Australia’s luckiest marsupial for cheating death after it was hit by a car at 100km/h and dragged with its head stuck in the grill for 12km near Brisbane. Rescuers called it “Ely ‘Lucky’ Grills”. (Reuters)

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