from the U.S. for a kidnapper
The Colombian Supreme Court has denied a request from the U.S. to extradite a guerrilla captured during last year's rescue of three American mercenaries.
The court said its decision is not subject to appeal.
U.S. Embassy officials had no immediate comment.
The court says Alexander Farfan, alias "Gafas," or glasses, cannot be extradited on kidnapping and terrorism charges because the crimes for which he is wanted were committed in Colombian territory.
The court said its decision was based on careful consideration of Colombian law and multilateral treaties such as the 1979 International Convention against the Taking of Hostages.
President Alvaro Uribe had no immediate comment.
However, Uribe's close adviser, Jose Obdulio Gaviria, called the ruling "a political decision."
"It means to say that from now on the court can't extradite anyone," he told The Associated Press. "I think it's a decision that should be reconsidered."
On July 2, Colombian military agents posing as members of a humanitarian mission spirited to safety U.S. captives Marc Gonsalves, Tom Howes and Keith Stansell, along with French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt.
Farfan and a second rebel from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, Gerardo Antonio Aguilar, or "Cesar," were captured during the operation.
Both were indicted and the United States requested their extradition a week later.
(Alexander Farfan is guilty of terrorism for kidnapping a mercenary? A mercenary who's paid to kill people in a foriegn land, has no right to be there and is breaking the law by operating there? Please, this mercenary should be on trial for terrorism charges, not Alexander Farfan)
Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak says the Israeli navy has intercepted a ship carrying activists and supplies from Lebanon to the Gaza Strip.
Barak says the navy is towing the vessel to the Israeli port of Ashdod. The ship had set sail on Wednesday in a bid to defy Israel's blockade of Gaza.
Reporters from Arab TV stations Al-Jadeed and Al-Jazeera who were on the vessel said the Israelis fired at the ship before boarding it and beating the crew.
They said they were unable to show pictures of the incident as the Israeli force smashed their broadcast equipment.
The Israeli military says it never fired at the ship.
(Yea sure you didn't, just liek those UN aid stations you bombed, or those UN aid convoys you kept destroying? Where the hell is the spineless UN? Why are they not charging Israel with war crimes for the things they keep doing over and over again?)
A previously unknown group that has claimed responsibility for a shooting and grenade attack against an Athens police station is vowing to kill police officers and expand its targets to prominent Greeks.
The group, which calls itself Sect of Revolutionaries, issued a statement on a computer disk left on the grave of a teenager whose shooting by police in December sparked Greece's worst riots in decades.
An anonymous caller tipped off the local daily Ta Nea to the disk's location, and the paper published the statement Thursday.
The group claimed it had been "unlucky" not to kill a police officer during a pre-dawn attack Tuesday against the police station in the western suburb of Korydallos, in which three assailants in hoods and helmets opened fire and threw a hand grenade that failed to explode. Nobody was injured.
"Our aim was to execute them," the statement said of the police officers, adding: "They were lucky, we were unlucky, next time they will not have luck on their side."
The group also vowed to target other prominent Greeks.
"To those who are already wondering why we chose some random cops and not a high-ranking official, a prominent journalist, a state functionary or at least a capitalist, we answer that their turn will come," the statement said.
Police spokesman Panayiotis Stathis said Wednesday that authorities were taking the statement seriously, and that the group seemed to be following the methods of the Revolutionary Struggle extremists who shot and seriously wounded a riot policeman last month.
"It seems to be genuine; it's a group that has not appeared before but the methodology seems to be the same as that of Revolutionary Struggle," Stathis said.
Although the anti-authoritarian rioting sparked by the teenager's death subsided before Christmas, attacks on police targets have increased.
Small cooking gas canisters exploded outside the office of a minister in charge of police in central Athens early Thursday, causing minor damage and no injuries.
Last month, Revolutionary Struggle claimed responsibility for a Jan. 5 shooting that seriously wounded a 21-year-old riot policeman in central Athens. The group is best known for firing a rocket-propelled grenade into the U.S. Embassy in Athens in 2007, and the U.S. is offering a $1 million reward for information leading to the capture of a group member.
Greece had faced a domestic insurgecy threat for decades, but authorities cracked down on violent left-wing groups before the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.
The country's deadliest group, November 17, killed 23 people in targeted shootings and bombings between 1975 and 2002 before a botched bombing led police to capture key group members.
In its annual report on terrorism last year, the U.S. State Department said it believed Revolutionary Struggle and November 17 could be linked. Revolutionary Struggle has carried out at least six bombings since 2003, targeting police stations, government ministries, a bank and a courthouse.
(I see when you fight the power of the government its called terrorism. But when you are govenerment that helps Israel committ genocide against Palestinians, its called, "doing NATO's job".)
Canada should adopt a "Buy Canadian" strategy in response to the "Buy American" clause included in the proposed U.S. stimulus package, NDP Leader Jack Layton urged Tuesday.
The NDP or New Democratic Party was the party started by former Communist Party member Tommy Douglas
During question period in the House of Commons, Layton said that there's a "golden opportunity" to boost slumping domestic sales with a "perfectly legal and appropriately designed 'Buy Canadian' strategy."
"The United States has had a 'Buy American' act for 76 years," Layton said. "It's perfectly legal under the World Trade Organization, and, in fact, under NAFTA, governments are allowed to buy at home in order to use taxpayers' money to create jobs for workers and to support communities and their industries.
"Mexico, China, Japan, South Korea, they all have national procurement policies, and it would be a good idea for Canada. Can the prime minister tell us what's wrong with a 'Buy Canadian' policy as permitted under continental and global trade rules?"
The controversial provision, part of the $819-billion US financial stimulus package before the U.S. Congress, would require all public works projects funded by the stimulus package to use only U.S.-made iron and steel.
During question period, Prime Minister Stephen Harper shot back that the specific proposals before the U.S. Congress violate trade obligations and that Layton is suggesting the government respond by starting a trade war with the U.S.
"That is not advice that we will be taking," Harper said.
The Tory government has called on Congress to remove the controversial clause in the stimulus package. In a letter to senior U.S. Senate leaders, the Canadian ambassador in Washington, Michael Wilson, said the clause could spark protectionist measures in other countries.
"The leader of the NDP asked the question, 'What would be wrong with policies that have us just buy here?' What's wrong with it is we are a world trading leader," Harper said. "We can compete with the best in the world; we can sell around the world. We want to sell around the world, and that's what our policy is designed to have us do."
The Democratic-controlled U.S. House of Representatives approved the economic stimulus package in a vote last week, and the Senate began debating it on Monday.
President Barack Obama on Wednesday imposed $500,000 caps on senior executive pay for the most distressed financial institutions receiving federal bailout money, saying Americans are upset with "executives being rewarded for failure."
Obama announced the dramatic new government intervention into corporate America at the White House, with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner at his side. The president said the executive-pay limits are a first step, to be followed by the unveiling next week of a sweeping new framework for spending what remains of the $700 billion financial industry bailout that Congress created last year.
The executive-pay move comes amid a national outcry over huge bonuses to executives heading companies seeking taxpayer dollars to remain afloat. The demand for limits was reinforced by revelations that Wall Street firms paid more than $18 billion in bonuses in 2008 even amid the economic downturn and the massive infusion of taxpayer dollars.
"This is America. We don't disparage wealth. We don't begrudge anybody for achieving success," Obama said. "But what gets people upset — and rightfully so — are executives being rewarded for failure. Especially when those rewards are subsidized by U.S. taxpayers."
(I assume this is a shot at us. We don't hate anyone for doing well either. Although they keep saying we do. The problem is the system and means by whihc a person generates wealth, not that they do generate wealth.)
The pay cap would apply to all institutions that have negotiated agreements with the Treasury Department for "exceptional assistance." Those would include American International Group Inc., Bank of America Corp., and Citigroup Inc.
Firms that want to pay executives above the $500,000 threshold would have to use stock that could not be sold or liquidated until they pay back the government funds.
Generally healthy institutions would have more leeway. They also face the $500,000 limit if they're getting government help, but the cap can be waived with full public disclosure and a nonbinding shareholder vote.
Obama said that massive severance packages for executives who leave failing firms are also going to be eliminated. "We're taking the air out of golden parachutes," he said.
(Which is a tremendous idea considering. It angers me that all those people who caused the problems are actually going to profit off of them. While the working class is left with the problem.)
Other new requirements on "exceptional assistance" will include:
—The expansion to 20, from five, the number of executives who would face reduced bonuses and incentives if they are found to have knowingly provided inaccurate information related to company financial statements or performance measurements.
—An increase in the ban on golden parachutes from a firm's top five senior executives to its top 10. The next 25 would be prohibited from golden parachutes that exceed one year's compensation.
—A requirement that boards of directors adopt policies on spending such as corporate jets, renovations and entertainment.
The administration also will propose long-term compensation restrictions even for companies that don't receive government assistance, Obama said.
Those proposals include:
— Requiring top executives at financial institutions to hold stock for several years before they can cash out.
— Requiring nonbinding "say on pay" resolutions — that is, giving shareholders more say on executive compensation.
— A Treasury-sponsored conference on a long-term overhaul of executive compensation.
(I propose an amendment to this bill that would place anyone who recieved a bouns after destroying working class live to be thrown in jail and have all their assests seized.)
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