World Briefs Aug. 29, 2010
Afghan deputy attorney general forced to retire
KABUL, Afghanistan - A top Afghan prosecutor who has complained that the attorney general and others are blocking corruption cases against high-ranking government officials said Saturday that he had been forced into retirement.Deputy Attorney General Fazel Ahmed Faqiryar said his boss, Attorney General Mohammad Ishaq Aloko, wrote a retirement letter for him earlier this week and that President Hamid Karzai accepted it.
Faqiryar, 72, said he wanted to continue doing his work, which has involved pursuing corruption allegations against top officials in the Karzai administration - a task which had put him in the middle of a political fire storm.U.S. officials have been pressing Karzai to do more to root out corruption. Karzai has pushed back, saying that the international community needs to do more to eliminate corruption in its own contracting procedures and eliminate terrorist havens outside the borders of Afghanistan.
"Everybody knows how hard I was working as a deputy attorney general," Faqiryar said in a telephone interview. "It was my responsibility as a top government official to complete and investigate those cases, especially those where high-ranking officials were involved in corruption, and this is what I did."He said that cases against three or four former Afghan Cabinet ministers had been completed, but had been put on hold and had not been sent to the courts. Five provincial governors have been accused of corruption, he said. Two of the cases involving governors have been sent to court and three remain under investigation, he said. In addition, Faqiryar said that several Afghan ambassadors to other nations have been accused of corruption.
"We have worked on so many," he said, unable to recall the number of cases involving ambassadors.Faqiryar said another deputy attorney general was being let go too, but he did not elaborate and the details of that deputy's departure were unclear.
Far-right protesters clash with police in UK
LONDON - A right-wing group that opposes what it calls the spread of Islam in Britain clashed with riot police in northern England on Saturday, throwing bottles, rocks and a smoke bomb at authorities.
The demonstration by the English Defense League occurred in Bradford, a city with one of the country's largest Pakistani and Muslim communities.The clashes began as the police kept about 700 English Defense League protesters apart from a leftist group that had called a counter-demonstration nearby. One English Defense League protester was taken away with a leg injury and five people were arrested, police said.
Bradford saw some of the U.K.'s worst riots in 2001, when racial tension between whites and South Asian immigrants resulted in looting, arson, and attacks on immigrant-owned businesses. More than 180 people were charged with rioting in that incident.
Jong Il appears to be headed home
CHANGCHUN, China - North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il apparently headed home Saturday after a secretive and surprise trip that reportedly included a meeting with China's top leader to appeal for diplomatic and financial support for a succession plan involving his youngest son.
Reporters have followed a motorcade - apparently used by the reclusive Kim - around several cities in northeast China. The 35-vehicle convoy accompanied by police cars with flashing lights was seen headed to the train station in Changchun.Kim rarely leaves North Korea and when he does he travels by special train. South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported the train left the station, although it did not give a destination.
North Korea does not announce Kim's trips until he returns home, and China has refused to say if he is in the country, even though a Japanese television station had a grainy picture of him.Kim was reportedly accompanied by his son, Kim Jong Un, believed to be in his 20s. Many North Korea watchers predict the son will be appointed to a key party position at a ruling Workers' Party meeting early next month - the first such gathering in decades.
- The Associated Press