MIDDLE EAST

LEBANON CLOSE MILITARY ROUTE INTO SYRIA

BEIRUT, Lebanon – Lebanon closed a military route that crossed its border into Syria, ending nearly three decades of unmonitored flow of high-ranking officials and goods between the two countries, the official National News Agency reported yesterday. The closure came nearly eight months after Syria withdrew its troops from Lebanon amid international pressure and street protests over allegations that Damascus played a role in February’s assassination of a former Lebanese prime minister, Rafik Hariri. Syria denies involvement in Hariri’s death.

The military route was closed December 18, the agency quoted a Lebanese army statement as saying. Lebanese troops had taken control of the route from Syrian forces in April.

– Associated Press

SOUTH ASIA

KING OF BHUTAN ANNOUNCES FIRST ELECTION

NEW DELHI – “I would like our people to know that the first national election to elect a government under a system of parliamentary democracy will take place in 2008,” King Jigme Singye Wangchuck of Bhutan declared at a public rally in the remote town of Trashi Yangtse, according to the Kuensel newspaper yesterday. In March, the 50-year-old king, who is revered by his people as a god, published a draft constitution that aims at establishing a two-party democracy in the mountainous kingdom sandwiched between India and China after nearly a century of absolute monarchy, put in place in 1907 by the British, who then ruled India. However, he did not elaborate on what form the new government would take and provided no specifics on how much power the palace would retain.

– The Daily Telegraph

CENTRAL ASIA

RIGHTS GROUP SAYS U.S. TORTURED DETAINEES AT AFGHAN ‘DARK PRISON’

KABUL, Afghanistan – America operated a secret prison in Afghanistan as recently as last year, torturing detainees with sleep deprivation, chaining them to the walls and forcing them to listen to loud music in total darkness for days, a human rights group alleged today. The prison was run near Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, New York-based Human Rights Watch said in a report based on the accounts of several detainees at the American prison for suspected terrorists at Guantanamo Bay.

According to the report, the detainees were kept in total darkness – they called the facility “Dark Prison” – and were tortured and mistreated by American and Afghan guards in civilian clothes, an indication the facility may have been operated by the CIA.

– Associated Press

NORTH AMERICA

SON OF FAMILY WITH TERRORISM LINKS ARRESTED ON U.S. WARRANT

TORONTO – The eldest son of an accused Al Qaeda financier was arrested in his family’s apartment on a U.S. warrant, weeks after returning to Canada from more than a year of detention in Pakistan, officials said yesterday.

Abdullah Khadr, 24, faces extradition to America on charges of procuring weapons for the Al Qaeda terror network for use against American forces, said the U.S. Attorney’s office in Boston, where the charges were filed. He faces a maximum of life imprisonment. Mr. Khadr was arrested Saturday and is jailed in Toronto. A bail hearing is scheduled for today.

– Associated Press

EAST AFRICA

RULING PARTY WINS TANZANIAN ELECTION

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania – Tanzania’s ruling party candidate was overwhelmingly elected president of one of the world’s poorest countries, the electoral commission said yesterday. Revolutionary Party candidate Jakaya Kikwete received 80.1% of the vote in Wednesday’s balloting, National Electoral Commission Chairman Lewis Makame said. Mr. Kikwete’s nearest rival, Ibrahim Lipumba of the main opposition Civic United Front party, won 11.65%, Mr. Makame said.

– Associated Press

CENTRAL AFRICA

CONGOLESE BANG ON DOORS FOR CHANCE TO VOTE

KINSHASA, Congo – Congo’s people voted in the first national ballot in more than three decades yesterday, banging on polling-booth doors to be allowed in to say yes or no to a draft constitution meant to put the country on the path to democracy and peace. About 24 million people in the central African country were registered to vote on the charter.

– Associated Press