NEWS OF THE DAY
From Across the Globe
Detainee transfer: Britain said Friday that the U.S. government has decided to release Shaker Aamer, 46, the last British resident imprisoned at the detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The Foreign Office said President Obama has told Congress of his decision, and Amer will be returned to Britain once a 30-day notice period has expired. The Foreign Office said it supported Obama’s commitment to closing the facility in Cuba for terrorist suspects. Aamer, originally from Saudi Arabia, was detained in Afghanistan in 2001 and has been held at Guantanamo since 2002. He has not been charged.
Russia talks: A foreign affairs adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday that it was President Obama who wanted to meet with Putin, not the other way around. Moscow and Washington on Thursday announced that the two leaders would be meeting on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly on Monday. Putin’s adviser Yuri Ushakov on Friday blasted White House press secretary Josh Earnest for saying it was Putin who approached Obama. Ushakov insisted the invitation came from the Obama administration. Contary to Earnest’s statements, Ushakov said the two leaders will focus on the situation in in Syria and the Middle East, and that Ukraine will be a minor subject of discussion.
Ukraine aid: The UN refugee agency on Friday criticized Russia-backed rebels in eastern Ukraine for shutting the door on international aid, while the rebels themselves said the ban was instituted to restore order. More than 8,000 people have been killed and more than 2 million people displaced in the fighting between separatist rebels and Ukrainian government troops in eastern Ukraine. With the Ukrainian government shutting down all public services in the rebel-held areas, aid from international organizations has been crucial for residents there. The UNHCR said Friday that rebel leaders in Luhansk decided Wednesday to expel its staff along with other international agencies.
Poaching: South Africa on Friday disputed a claim that rangers in Kruger National Park have killed nearly 500 suspected poachers from Mozambique, which borders the park, since 2010. Former Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano said the number of Mozambicans killed in Kruger had increased annually and that 82 Mozambicans died in the first six months of this year. “It’s highly overinflated,” Paul Daphne, a spokesman for South Africa’s national parks service, said of Chissano’s report of 500 deaths. He declined to provide a figure.
Coup fallout: Burkina Faso’s transitional government held its first Cabinet meeting Friday since it was reinstalled following a coup more than a week ago. Interim President Michel Kafando met with interim Prime Minister Yacouba Isaac Zida and ministers at the prime minister’s office in Ouagadougou. They were put back into power Wednesday after coup leader Gen. Gilbert Diendere stepped down at the order of regional bloc, the Economic Community of West African States, and under pressure from the military.