UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Al-Zawahri vows jihad in bin Laden eulogy
DUBAI | Ayman al-Zawahri, al Qaeda’s longtime No. 2, has threatened in a video eulogy to Osama bin Laden to pursue his late leader’s jihad against the West, SITE Intelligence Group reported Wednesday.
“We will pursue the jihad until we expel the invaders from Muslim lands,” he was quoted as saying in a eulogy for bin Laden, who was killed in a U.S. raid in Pakistan on May 2.
“The man who terrified America in his life will continue to terrify it after his death,” he added in the video message, titled “The Noble Knight Dismounted,” which SITE said was posted on jihadist online forums Wednesday.
CHINA
Trucker sentenced to die for killing Mongol herder
BEIJING | A Chinese truck driver was sentenced to death Wednesday for killing an ethnic Mongol herder by dragging him under his truck in a case that triggered Inner Mongolia’s largest demonstrations in 20 years.
Li Lindong’s sentence was read aloud at the end of his six-hour trial at the Intermediate People’s Court in the region’s Xilingol League, the official Xinhua News Agency said.
A passenger, Lu Xiangdong, also was convicted of homicide and sentenced to life in prison, Xinhua said.
Two others, Wu Xiaowei and Li Minggang, were convicted of obstructing justice and given three-year sentences for having blocked police who arrived at the scene, allowing Li Lindong and Lu to escape.
The speed of the trial and severity of the sentences underscore authorities’ sensitivity over the case and their desire to assuage Mongol demands for justice.
UNITED NATIONS
Gadhafi under investigation for using rape as a weapon
The chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court said Wednesday that he is investigating whether Libyan leader Col. Moammar Gadhafi provided Viagra to Libyan soldiers to promote the rape of women during the current conflict.
Luis Moreno-Ocampo said his office has become “more convinced” that Col. Gadhafi decided to punish women by using rape as a weapon.
He told a news conference that some witnesses confirmed that the Libyan government was buying containers of Viagra-type drugs “to enhance the possibility to rape.”
The Washington Times first reported the Libyans’ use of Viagra and rape in March.
SPAIN
Protesters condemn plans to reform collective bargaining
MADRID | Hundreds of protesters took to the streets outside parliament Wednesday to condemn government plans to reform the collective bargaining system.
The rally took place just a few hundred yards from where youths decrying the economic crisis have been camped since mid-May.
Unions and employers have been negotiating for months over reform of the collective bargaining system, considered a crucial plank of labor, banking and pension overhauls aimed at reviving Spain’s battered economy.
NETHERLANDS
96-year-old woman confesses to 1946 murder
AMSTERDAM | A murder mystery has been solved - 65 years later - with the confession of a 96-year-old woman.
The 1946 killing of Felix Gulje, the head of a construction company who at the time was being considered for a high political post, roiled the Netherlands, and the failure to find the assassin became a point of contention among political parties.
On Wednesday, the mayor of Leiden, Henri Lenferink, said a woman had confessed to the killing, saying it happened in the mistaken belief that Gulje had collaborated with the Nazis.
He received a letter Jan. 1 confessing to the murder from Atie Ridder-Visser. Two subsequent interviews with her and a review of the historical archives convinced him that her story was true.
RUSSIA
Muslim proponent of moderate religious education is slain
MOSCOW | A Muslim university professor who criticized radical Islamists was shot dead in Dagestan in a killing that sent a shock wave across the conflict-torn Russian region, officials said Wednesday.
Maksud Sadikov, 48, was shot in his home’s yard in the regional capital of Makhachkala late Tuesday, authorities said in a statement.
Mr. Sadikov had called for moderate religious education to combat Islamist extremism in Russia’s North Caucasus.
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