NEWS OF THE DAY
From Around the World
Torture cases: A court in Argentina sentenced two former Ford Motor Co. executives to prison for crimes against humanity committed against union workers during the country’s 1976-1983 military dictatorship. The court said Tuesday that factory manufacturing director Pedro Muller and security manager Hector Francisco Sibilla targeted workers and gave information to security agents for their kidnapping and torture after the 1976 military coup. Muller was sentenced to 10 years and Sibilla to 12 years. They were accused of giving names, ID numbers, pictures and home addresses to security forces who hauled more than two dozen union workers off the floor of Ford’s factory in Buenos Aires to be tortured and interrogated and then sent to military prisons.
Afghan attacks: At least 12 people were killed on the outskirts of Kabul on Tuesday when explosives in a vehicle detonated near a convoy of security forces, Afghan officials said. It was the deadliest of several violent attacks across Afghanistan on Tuesday that left a total of more than 30 dead, most of them members of security forces. Violence has continued unabated despite recent efforts to urge the Taliban to sit down for peace talks in the hopes of finding a political resolution to the 17-year war.
Politics ban lifted: Thailand’s military government on Tuesday lifted a ban on political activities it imposed when it seized power in a coup more than four years ago, an action taken in preparation for elections promised for early next year. Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha eased several restrictions that were set after the army seized power from an elected government in 2014. The order included the lifting of a ban on political gatherings of more than five people that the ruling junta has used as one of many measures to suppress opponents of its rule.
Prisoner swap: Delegations from Yemen’s warring sides agreed on Tuesday to set Jan. 20 as a final date to swap over 15,000 prisoners from both sides of the country’s devastating civil war, according to a member of the rebel delegation. The internationally recognized government of President Abed Rabu Mansour Hadi and Iran-backed Shiite rebels said in Sweden that they have exchanged prisoner lists, allowing four weeks for review, ahead of a final swap to be facilitated by the International Committee of the Red Cross. Yemen’s conflict, which has pushed the country to the brink of famine, pits the internationally recognized government against the Shiite rebels, who seized the capital of Sanaa in 2014. The Saudis intervened the following year. The war has killed at least 10,000 people, though the figure is believed to be higher, and turned Yemen into one of world’s worst humanitarian crises with 22 of its 29 million people in need of aid, according to the United Nations.
Church shooting: A man opened fire in a cathedral in southern Brazil after Mass on Tuesday, killing four people and wounding four more before taking a bullet in the ribs in a firefight with police and then shooting himself in the head, authorities said. The shooting happened right after the midday service had ended at the Metropolitan Cathedral in Campinas, a city about 60 miles north of Sao Paulo. Authorities identified the shooter as 49-year-old Euler Fernando Grandolpho a systems analyst who was not a member of the church. Authorities said they had not determined a motive. Brazil is routinely the world leader in total homicides, though mass shootings are rare. Last year, nearly 64,000 people were killed.
Chronicle News Services