BANGKOK, Thailand – Representatives from more than 160 countries began formal negotiations yesterday on a treaty to address climate change, with the secretary-general of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, urging governments to help in “saving the planet.”
The weeklong meeting will lay out the agenda for the talks, which are scheduled to conclude at the end of 2009.
New York Times News Service
3 European soldiers
killed in Afghanistan
Violence in southern Afghanistan killed two British service members Sunday and a Danish soldier yesterday as NATO forces battled the Taliban in Helmand province.
The attacks occurred as President Bush and other NATO leaders prepared to meet tomorrow in Romania.
Bloomberg News Service
Torture suspect is
sent to Argentina
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – Former naval officer Ricardo Cavallo, accused of torturing and illegally kidnapping dissidents under Argentina's 1976-1983 military dictatorship, was extradited from Spain yesterday.
He had been held in a Spanish jail since 2003, when he was extradited from Mexico to face genocide charges.
Associated Press
5 rare kakapo chicks
born in New Zealand
WELLINGTON, New Zealand – A species of flightless parrot edged a littler further away from extinction with the hatching of five new chicks in New Zealand in recent weeks and two more on the way, officials said yesterday.
The latest births of owl-like kakapos in southern New Zealand brought the population of the rare bird to just 91, officials said.
Associated Press
Aid workers freed
from Chad prison
PARIS – Six French aid workers convicted of trying to smuggle 103 children out of Chad walked out of prison yesterday, hours after Chadian President Idriss Deby pardoned the group. The six, from the Zoe's Ark charity, were sentenced to eight years in prison in Chad, but were later transferred to France to serve their sentences under a judicial agreement.
Associated Press
Two admit killing
Russian TV reporter
DUSHANBE, Tajikistan – Officials said yesterday that two men from Tajikistan have admitted robbing and killing a Russian TV journalist.
Ilyas Shurpayev, 32, a reporter for Russia's state-run TV network Channel One, was found dead March 21 in his rented Moscow apartment.
Tajik Interior Ministry spokesman Makhmadali Shafoatov said one of the two suspects, Masrudzhon Yatimov, claimed Shurpayev had offered him money March 9 to have sex at Shurpayev's home.
During the visit, Yatimov learned the reporter had just received a large money transfer, and he and another man, Nadzhmiddin Mukhiddinov, then returned to Shurpayev's apartment March 21 to rob him, Shafoatov said. After Shurpayev resisted, they killed him, Shafoatov said.
Associated Press
