NEWS OF THE DAY
1 Treason charge: A federal judge on Thursday asked Argentina’s Senate to allow the arrest and trial of former President Cristina Fernandez on a charge of treason for allegedly covering up the role of Iranians in a 1994 bomb attack on a Jewish center in Buenos Aires, which killed 85 people and wounded hundreds. Judge Claudio Bonadio asked lawmakers to remove Fernandez’s immunity from prosecution, which she gained when she was sworn in as a senator last week. She was president from 2007 to 2015. The judge backs an assertion that a 2013 agreement with Iran, which was portrayed as a joint attempt to solve the case, in reality ensured that the Iranians involved would never be prosecuted.
2 Emperor’s memoirs: A transcript of the memoirs of Japan’s wartime emperor, Hirohito, in which he explained his country’s reasons for entering World War II, sold at auction in New York on Wednesday for $275,000. The notes, handwritten in pencil and black ink by an imperial court official, cover the period from 1928 to 1945, and include the emperor’s account of the events leading up to Japan’s entry into World War II, the attack on Pearl Harbor and the country’s surrender. Katsuya Takasu, the winning bidder, said he intended to bring the transcript back to Japan and return it to the royal family.
_3 Spies on strike: Employees at Slovenia’s state intelligence agency have gone on strike, demanding higher wages and better working conditions. Slovenia’s Public Administration Minister Boris Koprivnikar on Thursday described the move as “surprising and unique.” He says Slovenia’s spies are required by law to ensure the basic functioning of the agency to protect national security. Local media say the strike started Wednesday with employees of the Slovene Security and Intelligence Agency, complaining they are understaffed and not paid enough.
4 Presidential runoff: Liberia’s top court has cleared the way for the presidential runoff election to go forward, saying there was not enough evidence to support allegations of fraud. The second-round vote between soccer star George Weah and Vice President Joseph Boakai had been put on hold after the Liberty Party alleged first-round voting irregularities. But the court said Thursday those violations were not sufficient to overturn the vote’s outcome. No date has been set for the runoff vote. The National Elections Commission has been ordered to clean up its voter roll. The Liberty Party’s candidate was not among the top two finishers in the first round held Oct. 10. Voters are choosing a replacement for President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Africa’s first female leader and a Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
5 Refugee lawsuit: The European Union announced Thursday in Brussels that it is taking the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland to court for failing to accommodate their fair share of refugees under a plan agreed to by the 28-country bloc two years ago. EU nations agreed in September 2015 to relocate 160,000 refugees from Italy and Greece as the countries buckled under the arrival of hundreds of thousands of refugees that year. Under the plan, Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic were supposed to take in a combined 10,000 people. But Hungary and Poland have taken none at all, while the Czech Republic has accepted 12. The EU’s executive commission sought reasons why but was given no satisfactory explanations. Chronicle News Services