Venezuela: More radio closures coming [ 383 ]

Venezuelan minister: More radio closures coming

(CNN) -6-9-09- The Venezuelan government initiated a new charge against a private television broadcaster and said that 29 additional radio stations would soon be closed, the latest move in what critics call a crackdown on freedom of expression.

Demonstrators hold up a picture of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez at a pro-Chavez rally on Saturday

The Saturday announcement by Minister of Public Works and Housing Diosdado Cabello, who oversees the state telecommunications regulator, came at a counter-rally to marches protesting the hardline tactics of President Hugo Chavez.

Friday's marches against Chavez were in part to protest the government's closure of 32 radio stations and two television broadcasters last month. The government said the stations were shut down for violations relating to their broadcast licenses. Critics say the president was clamping down on critical press.

"There are 29 [radio stations] that will be off the air shortly," Cabello said at Saturday's pro-Chavez rally.

Cabello also announced a new legal complaint against television broadcaster Globovision as a sanction for allegedly calling for a coup against Chavez during its coverage of Friday's rallies.

Globovision carried text messages from viewers on a ticker on the bottom of the screen during the anti-Chavez protests that called for an overthrow of the government, Cabello said.

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"If you call for a coup, if you call for assassination, assume your responsibility," he said.

The government has already initiated a number of charges against Globovision. The station, known for being critical of Chavez, is being investigated for breaking a law on "social responsibility" on some programs on certain dates. The station violated a statute that makes it illegal to utilize telecommunication channels to further criminal acts, the government alleges.

Venezuelan authorities had also opened an investigation into whether Globovision broke the law May 4 when it reported about an earthquake before an official report had been issued on the matter.

Two other investigations had previously been launched against the station.

The relationship between privately-owned media in Venezuela and the leftist Chavez have never been rosy. Chavez has accused private television stations of supporting his brief ouster in 2002, and the president was a driving force behind denying a license renewal in 2007 to one broadcaster he said cooperated with the opposition.

Afghan civilians wounded, in airstrike[ 382 ]

U.S. general sure Afghan civilians wounded in airstrike

• VIDEO
• PHOTOS

KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) -September 6, 2009 -- Updated 1109 GMT (1909 HKT)-

The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan said Saturday he was convinced that civilians, in addition to militants, were among those wounded in a NATO airstrike that killed at least 90 people in northern Afghanistan.

A victim of an ISAF airstrike on a hijacked oil tanker is carried into the Kunduz hospital on Friday.

more photos »

Gen. Stanley McChrystal toured the site of the massive explosion that occurred early Friday as Afghans tried to siphon fuel from two tankers that were hijacked late Thursday by the Taliban in Kunduz province.

The fuel was earmarked for NATO's International Security Assistance Force, known as ISAF.

ISAF Capt. Elizabeth Mathias said Friday the military believed there were no civilians near the trucks at the time of the attack. NATO learned afterward that this was not the case. Watch more about the airstrikes »

McChrystal visited the hospital Saturday where the injured were being treated.

"It's important to me that we be as honest with the Afghan people and with people around the world as possible," he said.

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"Of course, you don't know all the facts until an investigation's complete. And I clearly don't know all the facts now, and would not want to affect a potential investigation by making some conclusion that might be inappropriate.

"But from what I have seen today in going to the hospital, it's clear to me that there were some civilians that were harmed at that site."

The total death toll has varied depending on the source, but local Afghan officials have said at least half of those killed were civilians.

See images of the strike aftermath »

NATO and Afghan authorities were investigating.

The Taliban gave villagers the go-ahead to drain the tankers after they became stuck in the mud when the militants tried to drive them through the Kunduz River.

With the trucks stuck on the riverbank, the German commander of the NATO forces in the area called in the airstrike, the German military said. No German soldiers or planes were involved in the attack.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Friday he was "deeply saddened" by the deaths and reiterated that no civilians should be killed or injured in anti-terrorist military operations.

U.S. Brig. Gen. Eric Tremblay released a statement saying, "ISAF will do whatever is necessary to help the community, including medical assistance and evacuation as requested. ISAF regrets any unnecessary loss of human life."

Mexico : a suspected leader detained [ 381 ]

Arrest made in slayings of U.S. citizens in Mexico

September 6, 2009 -- Updated 1213 GMT (2013 HKT)

MEXICO CITY, Mexico (CNN) -- The Mexican military has detained a suspected leader of a notorious drug-trafficking family in connection with the July slayings of two U.S. citizens.

Benjamin LeBaron is buried in Galeana, Mexico, in July.

Jose Rodolfo Escajeda, known as El Rikin, was taken into custody Friday in Nuevo Casa Grandes, in Chihuahua state, according to a military statement.

Escajeda is an alleged ringleader of a drug-trafficking family that runs a 120-mile smuggling corridor on Mexico's border with Texas, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration. He has been indicted by the U.S. government, DEA said.

U.S. citizens Benjamin LeBaron and his brother-in-law, Luis Widmar, were beaten and shot to death after armed men stormed into their home in the town of Galeana, Mexico. Local media reported in July that a note found on LeBaron indicated the slayings were in retribution for the capture of 25 drug suspects in a nearby town.

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The LeBaron brothers belonged to the "Community of LeBaron" in Galeana, a township founded by excommunicated Mormons.

LeBaron's younger brother, Eric, was kidnapped in May and returned unharmed a week later. The incident prompted Banjamin LeBaron to become a nationally recognized anti-crime activist who moved the local community to take a stand.

Philippines : passenger ferry doomed [ 380 ]

Hundreds saved from doomed ferry

Advertisement Survivors return to land to be checked over (BBC)Sunday, 6 September 2009 16:26 UK A rescue operation is under way in the Philippines after a ferry sank with more than 960 people on board. Coastguards say 931 people have now been rescued from the SuperFerry 9 but nine people have died and more than 30 are still unaccounted for. The passenger ferry was sailing off the southern Zamboanga peninsula when it began listing. It issued a distress call, prompting the coastguard, the navy, the air force and private boats to help. In pictures: Philippines ferry sinks The Philippine Defence Minister, Gilberto Teodoro, told the BBC that the rescue operation had been helped by good weather and the presence of other vessels close to the site. The SuperFerry 9 was said to be carrying 847 passengers and 117 crew plus four sea marshals on its journey from General Santos to Iloilo. A statement issued on the SuperFerry website said that the ship began listing to the right at 0230 on Sunday (1830 GMT Saturday). Passengers were told to don life jackets while the captain tried to correct the list, the statement said. When the captain determined that the list was irreversible, he gave the order to abandon ship, and life rafts were launched. Shocked passengers were brought ashore by other vessels The statement said that the crew were the last to leave the ship at 0842 local time, when the ferry tilted and sank. Officials said that those rescued were transferred to navy ships, two nearby civilian vessels and other smaller boats which had responded to the Mayday call. The coastguard in Manila said nine bodies had been brought in so far by rescue boats and fishing vessels. However the death toll could rise if reports of more fishing boats bringing in dead bodies proved accurate. The Philippine air force and army have sent helicopters to help in the search for those still missing. The cause of the sinking was unknown, but the weather was reported to be fair at the time of the incident. PHILIPPINES' WORST FERRY DISASTERS 1987: More than 4,300 people die when the Dona Paz ferry collides with an oil tanker off Mindoro island - the world's worst peacetime shipping disaster 2008: More than 800 people killed when the Princess of the Stars ferry capsizes during a typhoon 1988: Dona Paz's sister ship, Dona Marilyn, sinks off Leyte province, killing 250-300 people 1998: The Princess of the Orient ferry sinks near Batangas province, killing 150-200 people 1994: About 140 people die when a freighter hits the Cebu City ferry in Manila Bay 2004: A fire aboard the Superferry 14 kills 116 people near Manila Bay. Abu Sayyaf claims it planted a bomb on board The ferry ran into trouble about 530 miles (860km) south of the Philippine capital, Manila. One passenger said the ship began listing in the middle of the night, but he was assured by the crew that everything was all right. However, a couple of hours later the situation worsened. "The ship shifted suddenly and some people just panicked," a man named as Roger Cinciron was quoted as telling a local radio station by phone. He was speaking from one of the life rafts as he waited to be rescued. The ferry had been due to arrive in Iloilo later on Sunday, AP quoted the ship's owner, Aboitiz Transport System, as saying. A BBC correspondent says maritime accidents are common in the Philippines because of tropical storms, poor ship maintenance and lax safety enforcement.

Libya: Bomber exchange with an Oil deal [ 379 ]

Straw: Oil deal considered in Lockerbie release

• VIDEO

LONDON, England (CNN) -5-9-09- An oil deal and trade concerns with Libya were at one point considered as factors in the Lockerbie bomber's release, Justice Secretary Jack Straw said in an interview published Saturday.

Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi (second from left)

Ultimately, convicted bomber Abdelbeset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi was released on compassionate grounds because he is dying of cancer, a decision that Scottish, British and Libyan officials have said was not linked to oil or trade.

In an interview published Saturday in The Daily Telegraph, Straw said trade and the interests of oil giant British Petroleum were factors in a 2007 prisoner transfer agreement between Britain and Libya.

"Yes, (it was) a very big part of that," Straw told the paper. "I'm unapologetic about that. ... Libya was a rogue state. We wanted to bring it back into the fold. And yes, that included trade because trade is an essential part of it and subsequently there was the BP deal."

A Straw adviser said Saturday that Straw's quotes were accurate, but he emphasized that al Megrahi was not released under the terms of that deal.

"Jack's position has been on the record for some days," said the adviser, who declined to be named in line with policy. "He has never denied that seeking an agreement with Libya over a prisoner transfer agreement was connected to a wider process of normalizing relations with Libya, including on trade, which is in the interests of us all."

Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny McAskill decided last month to release al Megrahi, who was serving a life sentence for the 1988 bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.

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The bombing killed 270 people and was the world's most fatal act of terrorism until the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, according to the FBI.

McAskill said he made the decision on compassionate grounds because al Megrahi, a Libyan, is terminally ill with prostate cancer. The prisoner transfer agreement between Libya and the United Kingdom -- which covers Scotland -- was not a factor in al Megrahi's release.

Still, there have since been allegations that the British government pushed hard for al Megrahi's release because it wanted to appease Libya, which wanted al Megrahi to return home.

The Sunday Times newspaper alleged last week that Britain wanted al Megrahi to at least be eligible for the prisoner transfer agreement in order to clear the way for a deal allowing BP to drill for oil in Libya.

British and Scottish officials have denied that, and this week, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown took time out from a scheduled event to squash the allegation.

"I made it clear that for us there was never a linkage between any other issue and the Scottish government's own decision about Megrahi's future," Brown said. "On our part there was no conspiracy, no cover-up, no double-dealing, no deal on oil, no attempt to instruct Scottish ministers, no private assurances by me to (Libyan leader Moammar) Gadhafi."

Abdulati Alobidi, the Libyan minister for Europe, backed up the denials.

"In my negotiations with the British and the Scottish, I didn't mention anything about trade relations," he told Sky News this week.

Scotland fought hard to keep al Megrahi out of the prisoner transfer agreement, which was negotiated in 2007, according to declassified government documents released this week.

The documents show Straw first assured Scotland he would tell the Libyans that Britain would not agree to any prisoner transfer treaty unless al Megrahi was specifically excluded. But only three months later, he told Edinburgh he was giving up efforts to keep al Megrahi out of the deal "in view of the overwhelming interests for the United Kingdom."

Days after that, Libya approved a huge oil exploration contract with BP.

It means Britain -- not Scotland -- gave in to Libyan demands that al Megrahi be eligible for transfer, even while insisting that the actual decision about whether to transfer him would be Scotland's.

Ultimately, however, "the prisoner transfer agreement never came into play" in al Megrahi's release, the Ministry of Justice spokesman said.