World in brief: USS Cole plotter freed after pledge
Yemen has set free one of the al-Qaida masterminds of the USS Cole bombing in 2000 that killed 17 American sailors, a senior security official said Thursday.
Jamal al-Badawi, who is wanted by the FBI, was convicted in 2004 of plotting, preparing and helping carry out the USS Cole bombing and received a death sentence that was commuted to 15 years in prison.
He and 22 others, mostly al-Qaida fighters, escaped from prison in 2004. But al-Badawi was granted his freedom after turning himself in 15 days ago and pledging loyalty to Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
The official said police were told by the government to “stop all previous orders concerning measures adopted against al-Badawi.”
YANGON, Myanmar
Riot police mass near protest sites
Hundreds of riot police armed with assault rifles and tear gas moved into position at sites in Yangon where protesters staged a bloody, pro-democracy demonstration a month ago today.
The sudden show of force after several weeks of relative quiet in Myanmar’s largest city appeared aimed at forestalling any protests to mark the one-month anniversary of a key day in the anti-regime uprising by Buddhist monks, activists and ordinary citizens.
On Thursday, detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi met with a newly appointed Myanmar government official, part of a U.N.-brokered attempt to nudge her and the military junta toward reconciliation.
It was the first known meeting between Suu Kyi – under house arrest for 12 of the last 18 years – and “minister for relations” retired major general Aung Kyi, who was appointed to the post on Oct. 8 to hold talks with her.
“I hope this is the beginning of the (reconciliation) process,” Nyan Win, spokesman for Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy, said Friday.
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa
Goats, cows get lift in Fiat
It was a real stock car, but the driver was the only one racing.
And he got away.
Police in rural South Africa found two cows and two goats being transported in a compact car barely large enough for four people.
The blue Fiat Uno was impounded Thursday after residents alerted police in a town in northern KwaZulu-Natal, the South African Press Association reported.
Capt. Jabulani Mdletshe, a police spokesman, said that when the officers arrived, the driver had loaded the animals into his vehicle and was trying to speed away.
He eventually stopped the car after being unable to outrun the police, and fled into the nearby bushes, SAPA said. The cows and goats were handed over to an animal theft unit.