theSun | THURSDAY JULY 30 2009
news without borders
Nigerian troops bid
to rout sectt
MAIDUGURI (Nigeria): Troops struggled
to crush an Islamist sect in northern Nigeria
yesterday as the death toll from four days of
clashes surged past 300 and thousands of
people were forced from their homes.
Police sources said fighting was concen-
trated in Maiduguri city, the base of the self-
styled Nigerian Taliban following orders from
President Umaru Yar’Adua for the armed forces
to crush the movement “once and for all”.
But fresh clashes were reported elsewhere,
including Yobe state where police said 43 peo-
ple were killed yesterday, and fighting raged
throughout Maiduguri.
“We are carrying out mortar shelling on the
positions of these militants,” Col Ben Ahnatu,
the commander of the operation in Maiduguri,
told AFP.
“It’s time for action, not just talking.”
Another police source said that fighting
was centred around five neighbourhoods and
was at its most intense in Bayan Quarters
where the sect’s leader Mohammed Yusuf
was based.
Yusuf’s home was shelled by forces on
Tuesday evening, along with a mosque where
many of his followers had gathered, but Yusuf
appeared to have escaped.
“The house and the mosque have been
pulverised and reduced to rubble,” the police
source said, adding the offensive to rout the
militants was likely to take longer than previ-
ously thought.
“To be honest with you I don’t think the
campaign will be finished within the next day
briefs
Man pleads not guilty in
slaying of abortion doctor
CHICAGO: An anti-abortion activist on Tuesday
pleaded not guilty to gunning down a controver-
sial provider of late-term abortions in his Kansas
church, local media reported. Scott Roeder did
not speak at his preliminary hearing and had his
public defender enter the not guilty plea on his
behalf, the Wichita Eagle reported.
Roeder, a 51-year-old Kansas City area resident
with a history of mental problems and links to
anti-abortion groups, is charged with the May 31
murder of George Tiller.
Tiller, 67, was a lightning rod in the nation’s
culture wars over abortion and had already
been shot in the arms and seen his Kansas clinic
bombed, vandalised and targeted by decades of
protests before he was gunned down in the foyer
of his Wichita church. – AFP
Californian convicted
over racist Obama threat
LOS ANGELES: A California man was convicted
on Tuesday of making racist threats against
Barack Obama during last year’s presidential
campaign, justice officials said. Walter Bag-
dasarian faces up to 10 years in federal prison
when he is sentenced on Oct 26 by a judge
in San Diego.
Bagdasarian was found guilty on two
counts of making a threat against a major
candidate for president during an hour-long
bench trial in which no witnesses were
presented. Each count carries a maximum
sentence of five years.
The court heard that Secret Service agents
linked Bagdasarian’s home computer to mes-
sages posted on a Yahoo! Finance message
board. “He will have a 50 cal in the head
soon,” one message read, while another used
a racial epithet. – AFP
Hungary detains four over
illegal stem cell treatment
BUDAPEST: Hungarian police have detained
four people on suspicion of carrying out illegal,
untested stem cell treatments using embryos
9
AFPPIX
Refugees in a police station after being rescued
from the fundamentalists in Maiduguri on Tuesday.
or two. Part of the obstacle the troops are fac-
ing is that there are still civilians in some of
these neighbourhoods. Therefore troops need
to be cautious.”
Residents said it appeared that troops were
now closing in on the last of the militants.
A tally of the police figures from violence
shows that at least 304 people are known to
have died. – AFP
or aborted fetuses at a Hungarian private clinic,
police said in a statement.
The statement said the suspects – two Hun-
garians, one US and one Ukrainian citizen – were
detained on July 27 just as they were preparing
to treat a new patient.
Police said they launched a procedure on
“suspicion of a banned use of the human body”.
“There is well-founded suspicion that a US
citizen called Julliy B. has carried out stem cell
treatments for money within the framework of
a Hungarian stem cell research laboratory and
private clinic since 2007,” police said. – Reuters
Baby with two heads
born in Philippines
MANILA: Doctors at a Philippine hospital were
yesterday trying to save a baby girl born with
two heads, officials said. The baby was born
late on Tuesday and is now under observation
at the neo-natal intensive care unit of the Jose
Fabella Memorial Hospital in Manila.
A hospital spokeswoman said the baby
was stable at the moment, but said she may
die if tests proved both heads shared only one
set of vital organs.
Reports said the father Salvador Arganda
was a tricycle driver. He and his wife, Chateria,
already have five other children and there
was no known history of twins in the family.
Officials at the hospital said the extra head
appeared to be a twin of the girl who failed to
fully separate during the development stage
in early pregnancy. – AFP
Former tenant sued for
‘tweeting’ about mould
CHICAGO: A Chicago real estate management
company is suing a former tenant for defamation
for complaining on Twitter about mould in her
apartment. Horizon Group Management filed
the lawsuit against Amanda Bonnen, the former
tenant, on Monday in Cook County Circuit Court
and is seeking at least US$50,000 (RM175,000)
in damages.
Horizon, in its suit, said that on May 12, Bon-
nen wrote a “false and defamatory” message on
the micro-blogging service.
“Who said sleeping in a mouldy apartment was
bad for you? Horizon realty thinks it’s okay,” said
the “tweet” sent from Bonnen’s since-discontinued
account at @abonnen. Horizon said the statement
was “wholly false” and had “greatly injured” its
reputation as a landlord in Chicago. – AFP