U.S. climbers die on Kilimanjaro
Three American mountain climbers were killed and another seriously wounded in a rockslide on Tanzania’s Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest peak, an official said on Thursday.
The dead were crushed as they slept in their tents on Wednesday when rocks and boulders were dislodged by a strong gust of wind. They had been hiking above the Arrow Glacier on the western slope of the mountain at about 16,000 feet, said James Wakibara, the acting chief warden of Kilimanjaro National Park.
Tanzania’s regional police commander, Mohamed Chico, identified the dead as Kristian Ferguson, 27, of Longmont, Colo.; Mary Lou Sammis, 58, of Huntington, N.Y.; and Betty Orrik Sapp, 63, of Tennessee.
Five other people were seriously injured, among them one American and four Tanzanians.
About 30,000 hikers, mostly Americans and Europeans, hike the mountainous rocky paths every year.
There has been widespread concern in recent years about the pace of the glacier melt on the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro. Park rangers said Thursday they would examine whether the rocks were loosened by receding ice, which would have held the rocks in place.
Terrorism suspect faces extradition from Britain
London - A British court cleared the way Thursday for the government to extradite a suspected al-Qaida member to the United States after receiving American assurances he would not be tried in a military court on charges of plotting to set up a terrorist training camp in Oregon.
The U.S. government gave the court a note guaranteeing British citizen Haroon Rashid Aswat, 31, would be tried by a federal court, not a military tribunal, and would not be designated an “enemy combatant.”
Aswat’s lawyer, Paul Bowen, said he would appeal the ruling to the High Court.
Aswat was arrested in Lusaka, Zambia, on July 20 in connection with the July 7 transit bombings in London, in which four suicide bombers killed 52 commuters.
Federal prosecutors in New York have charged several men in the alleged conspiracy to set up the terrorist training camp in Oregon with members of a now-defunct Seattle mosque. They include Aswat and Egyptian-born preacher Abu Hamza Al-Masri, also known as Mustafa Kamel Mustafa, who are both being detained in England facing possible extradition.
Haitian business leader calls for general strike
Port-au-Prince, Haiti - The leader of Haiti’s largest business association on Thursday called for a general strike next week to protest the wave of kidnappings that has sparked fear in the capital and contributed to the chaos that prompted authorities to postpone elections.
Reginald Boulos, the president of Haiti’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry, urged businesses to stay closed and parents to keep their children out of school Monday to pressure the United Nations peacekeeping mission to take more aggressive measures against the gangs allegedly behind the kidnappings.
Most Haitian businesses are small, independent shops, and it was unclear what, if any, effect the chamber president’s call for a general strike would have on the economy of the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere.
At least 13 killed at Honduran prison
Tegucigalpa, Honduras - A shootout between inmates at Honduras’ biggest prison left at least 13 inmates dead and another 30 wounded Thursday, officials said.
The confrontation began at the National Penitentiary on the outskirts of Tegucigalpa, the capital. Honduran Security Minister Armando Calidonio said police and guards had restored control at the facility, and that at least one of the wounded inmates suffered serious injuries.
“The confrontation was between two rival groups of prisoners who fired shots at each other in a territorial dispute,” said Calidonio.
He said officials had yet to determine how inmates got guns into the National Penitentiary.