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Indonesia QuakeA 6.1-magnitude earthquake in the Indonesian province of Aceh flattenedbuildings and sparked landslides on Tuesday, killing at least three people andinjuring dozens in a region devastated by the quake-triggered tsunami of 2004.

July 3, 2013

Longtime prisoners on hunger strike at the Guantanamo detentioncamp for terrorism suspects are asking a federal judge to order theUS government to stop forcibly drugging them and to stop force-feeding them in advance of the religious fast during Ramadan.

The month-long fast, celebrated by all Muslims, is set to beginwith the new moon on July 8.

The motion was filed Sunday. It asks the judge to block USofficials from continuing to admin-ister a drug said to cause dangerousside-effects. Prolonged use of thedrug, Reglan, may cause a neuro-logical muscular disorder similarto Parkinsons disease, lawyers forthe detainees say. It can also triggerdepression, suicidal thoughts, andsuicide, they argue.

On Monday, US District JudgeRosemary Collyer gave the gov-ernment two days, until July 3, torespond with its own motion.

The action was filed by lawyers with the London-based groupReprieve on behalf of four Guantanamo detainees.

Being strapped to a chair and having a tube forcibly insertedthrough ones nostrils and into ones stomach is dishonorable anddegrading. It falls within the ambit of torture or other forms ofinhumane treatment, the motion says in part.

In the long history of American detention of the enemy, bod-

ily invasions of this character have never been the routine busi-ness of the prisoner of war camp, the motion says.

The motion adds that the forced administration of the drug Re-glan in conjunction with the forced feeding violates the detain-ees right to refuse a drug that poses a significant risk of adverseside effects from prolonged use.

The practice is inhumane, violates human rights and medicalethics, and serves no legitimate pe-nological interest, according to themotion.

The US military, which runs thedetention camp, has defended theprocedures used to feed the detain-ees, saying they are humane.

All four of the detainees havebeen cleared for release fromGuantanamo, but the transfer proc-ess has been stopped because of along-running stalemate betweenCongress and the White House.

They are among 166 detainees being held at the detentioncamp at the US Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Eighty-six of the prisoners have been cleared for release. Lawyers esti-mate that 120 are currently on hunger strike and that, of those,44 are being force-fed by US officials. The hunger strike beganin early February to protest their indefinite detention without

charge.

Gitmo Inmates Seek EndTo Force-Feedings for Ramadan

US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Tuesday that boththe US and Russia are seriously committed to having aninternational conference on Syria and setting up a transi-tional government to end the bloodshed and save the stateof Syria.

Kerry said the two countriesboth believe the meeting shouldtake sooner rather than later, butacknowledged it might not bepossible until August or later.Such an international meeting,which has been delayed severaltimes before, is known as Ge-neva II because it follows aSyria meeting in the Swiss cityin June 2012, AP reported.

Kerry spoke outside the USEmbassy in Brunei after a 90-minute-plus meeting with Rus-sian Foreign Minister SergeyLavrov on the sidelines of an Asian security summit.

Russia has been a key backer of Syrian President BasharAssads government in the two-year civil war that hasclaimed more than 93,000 lives. But Kerry said the US and

Russia agreed that they have an ability to make a differenceif they can pull together.

Our objective remains the same--that to recognize thenotion that there really isnt a military victory, per se, forSyria that keeps Syria as a country, Kerry said. And No.

2, that we have an obligation totry to work towards a peacefulresolution because a peacefulsettlement is the best way tosave the state of Syria and tominimize destruction.

He emphasized that the firstinternational conference calledfor a transitional governmentfor Syria with a neutral envi-ronment by mutual consent to afull transfer of power.

Last month, Lavrov said theUS was sending conflictingsignals to the insurgents. While

the US said it favored a peace conference in Geneva, Lav-rov said, talk about a possible no-fly zone encouraged theopposition to step up fighting instead of sitting down fortalks.

US, Russia Want SyriaConference Soon

Children Among 19 Dead In

Siberia Helicopter Crash

Nineteen people, including children, died on Tuesday when aMI-8 helicopter crashed in the nearly impassable taiga in east-ern Siberia, the latest disaster to hit Russias accident-proneaviation industry.

A Moscow-based aviation committee, citing the survivingcrew, said 19 of the 28 people on board were killed, but the emer-gencies ministry refused to confirm the toll, AFP reported.

The ministry said rescue teams were having a hard timereaching the crash site in the mountainous woods of the north-ern Yakutia region, with efforts hampered by bad weather.

There were three crew members and 25 passengers onboard, the Interstate Aviation Committee said in a statement.Nineteen people died, the aircraft burnt

down.Of the 25 passengers, 11 were children, of-

ficials said without providing further details.The accident apparently happened when

the Polar Airlines helicopter performed a hardlanding in poor weather, 45 kilometers (28miles) northwest of the small town of Depu-tatsky in Yakutia.

The first deputy head of the Interstate Aviation Committee,Alexander Filatov, told AFP he had been notified of the deathtoll through a telegram from aviation officials in Yakutia, whowere able to communicate with the crew after the crash.

But a spokeswoman for the emergencies ministry, IrinaRossius, said it could not give a toll until rescue teams wereon the ground. Some 240 rescuers and eight aircraft have beendispatched to the area.

A spokesman for the regional government in Yakutia, Afa-nasy Yegorov, said the crash site was so difficult to reach thatthe rescue teams had to land their aircraft some 30 kilometers(18 miles) away and continue their journey using all-terrainvehicles.

Brazil President Prepares

Package of Political ReformsBrazilian President Dilma Rousseff has prepared a package ofpolitical reforms in a bid to put an end to days of anti-govern-ment protests and social unrest across the country.

On Monday, Rousseff said she would send her political re-forms to Congress on Tuesday.

Tomorrow we are going to send to Congress our sugges-tions for a plebiscite spelling out the general lines which weview as more important, Rousseff said.

She also said the plebiscite was part of her attempt to com-bine forces with state governors and city mayors in offeringrapid and concrete solutions to problems of the economy,transport, health, education and politics.

On June 24, following talks with state governors, cabinetmembers, and city mayors, Rousseff said, I am going to pressfor a referendum for the election of a constitu-ent assembly tasked with political reform.

According to the Datafolha survey releasedon Saturday, the Brazilian presidents ap-proval rating has gone from 57 percent to 30percent since June 6-7.

The survey added that the number of thosewho thought that Rousseffs government wasdoing a bad or terrible job has increased from nine to 25percent. The protests in Brazil erupted on June 11, when peo-ple in Sao Paulo took to the streets to condemn a price hike inpublic transport.

The unrest spread quickly across the nation as protestersalso voiced their anger over the high cost of the World Cup,poor public service and political corruption.

On several occasions, Brazilian police resorted to tear gasand rubber bullets to disperse the protesters.

In Focus

French President Francois Hollandeon Tuesday called for the EuropeanUnion to take a common stand over

allegations of Washington spying on itsallies.

Europe must have a coordinated,common position on the requirements weneed to come up with and the explana-

tions we must ask for, Hollande said ashe met his Lithuanian counterpart DaliaGrybauskaite, whose country currentlyholds the EU presidency, in Paris, AFPreported.

Media reports that the US National Se-curity Agency (NSA) bugged Europeanoffices and embassies have sparked wide-spread concern in Europe, with Hollandeon Monday warning that they threatenedtalks due to start next week on a crucialEU-US free trade pact. Hollande alsosaid France had not received an officialrequest for asylum from fugitive US in-telligence leaker Edward Snowden, theformer NSA contractor behind the spyingallegations.

Paris has not yet received any par-ticular request from Mr Snowden,Hollande said, refusing to commentfurther.

Snowden broke his silence on Mondayfor the first time since fleeing to Moscowover a week ago, blasting the Obama ad-ministration and saying he remained free

to make new disclosures about US spyingactivity.

WikiLeaks said on Monday that Snow-den had submitted asylum requests to 21countries including France.

Grybauskaite said her office was inconsultation with the European Commis-sion, the EUs executive arm, over theallegations and was expecting answersfrom Washington.

We are requesting different informa-

tion from the United States to respondto the information we saw recently in themedia, she said.

Were waiting for those responses,and this is important because Europe is

concerned about such information in thepublic domain, she said.

What is important for us is to protectall private information for our citizensand there are concerns that we will be

expressing to our partners in the UnitedStates.

She said the EU had received someinformation from the United States andthey are ready to cooperate.

EU Urged CommonStand on US Spying

Taliban suicide attackers blew up a truck bomb earlyTuesday at the gates of a NATO supply companys com-pound in Kabul and sprayed gunfire at security person-nel, killing eight people, Afghan officials said.

Four Nepalese and one Romanian were among thosekilled in the bombing, which came after a series of recentTaliban suicide attacks targeting the Supreme Court, theairport, the presidency and a CIA office, AFP reported.

The attacks have made clear the Taliban have no in-tention of ending the violence, even as they say they arewilling to enter peace negotiations.

The UN deputy chief, Jan Eliasson, who was in Kabulwrapping up a five-day trip to Afghanistan when the at-tack took place, said continued violence could only harmthe Talibans own cause.

I would hope that there would be steps taken by theleadership of the Taliban to realize that the tool of vio-lence in any case cannot instill confidence in the popu-

lation, he said. Theres been too much suffering thereand there are too many widows, too many father-and-motherless children in Afghanistan and I think we needto instill a sense of calm.

Tuesdays attack started before dawn, when a suicidebomber drove a small truck to the outer gate of the logis-tics center used to supply NATO troops and detonated it.The explosion made a massive crater in the ground anddamaged a guard tower, said Kabul provincial policechief Mohammad Ayuob Salangi.

Two truck drivers waiting nearby to enter the com-pound were also killed in the blast, along with the bomb-er.

Three gunmen then stormed into the breach and bat-tled with security guards for more than an hour beforebeing killed. Four Nepalese security guards were alsokilled, Salangi said.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed re-

sponsibility for the assault, saying it was a very effec-tive attack that embarrassed the enemy.

Mujahid said only three militants had been involvedin the attack on a big foreign base important for NATOlogistics, and listed them by name in a statement on thegroups website.

The Taliban last month opened a new political officein the Persian Gulf nation of Qatar, and indicated thatthey were prepared to enter into Afghan peace talks, butat the same time did not renounce violence.

The following week, Taliban suicide attackers wereable to get past preliminary security checks and open fireon guards at a gate to the presidential palace in a bold at-tack at the heart of the Afghan government.

Earlier in June, heavily armed fighters launched afailed assault on NATOs operational headquarters atKabuls international airport and blew up a car bomboutside Afghanistans Supreme Court.

Deadly Taliban Attack Hits NATO Compound