A round-up of today's other stories in brief
18 prisoners killed in Brazil jail riots
SÃO PAULO – Eighteen prisoners have been killed during disturbances in two jails in the city of São Luís in Brazil's northeast, writes Tom Hennigan.
Inmates wielding handguns had been protesting overcrowding but gang rivals took the opportunity to settle scores during the rebellion.
Five prison officers were held hostage during the 27- hour stand-off which ended after the authorities offered the prisoners concessions on conditions.
Obama criticises Israel building plan
JAKARTA – US president Barack Obama said yesterday that renewed Israeli settlement activity did not help peace negotiations with the Palestinians and that neither side was making the extra effort needed for a breakthrough.
Israel said on Monday it would push ahead with plans for 1,300 new apartments for Jewish families in Arab East Jerusalem, despite fierce opposition from Palestinians.
The timing of the announcement could prove an embarrassment for Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who is in the US looking for ways to revive Middle East peace talks that have stalled over the Jewish settlement-building.
“This kind of activity is never helpful when it comes to peace negotiations,” President Obama said. – (Reuters)
Call to demolish Josef Fritzl house
VIENNA – The house under which Austrian Josef Fritzl imprisoned and abused his daughter and the children he fathered with her should be reduced to rubble, a provincial judge told a newspaper yesterday.
Judge Markus Sonnleitner, who is handling the jailed Fritzl’s insolvency, said the grey concrete building in the northern Austrian town of Amstetten was unlikely to fetch a buyer because of its dark history.
“This house should be knocked down. There is a lot of interest in seeing it vanish completely,” he told daily newspaper Kurier.
He said local authorities were looking at how to proceed, but that the cellar Fritzl built beneath the building should be immediately demolished. – (Reuters)
US investigates launch of possible missile
WASHINGTON – US officials are scrambling to explain a possible missile launch off the coast of Los Angeles, but a day after a vapour trail was caught on tape the incident remains a mystery, according to a Pentagon spokesman.
The apparent missile launch was caught on tape by a KCBS news helicopter on Monday evening. A video shows a billowing contrail apparently rising from the water about 50km (35 miles) west of Los Angeles and north of Catalina Island. It is not clear whether it comes from land or sea.
“So far we’ve come up empty with any explanation,” Col David Lapan said. “We’re talking to other parts of the US government. We’re doing everything we can to try to figure out if anybody has any knowledge of what this event may have been.” – (Reuters)
UN workers' body faces staff pickets
GENEVA – The UN body that champions the rights of workers faces the embarrassment of being picketed by its own staff today in a row over job security and collective bargaining.
Union members at the International Labour Organisation in Geneva plan to prevent a meeting of the governing body – a tripartite gathering of ministers, employers and unions – from taking place and are threatening to escalate the dispute into full-blown strike action.
The ILO staff union said offices around the world would be affected by the first globally orchestrated protest against plans to bring in contracts that would save money but make employment less secure. – ( Guardianservice)