Iraq will not be able to hold parliamentary elections before the end of January as required by the country's constitution, electoral officials say. The head of the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq, Faraj al-Haidari, said the possibility was now "over". Iraq's Sunni Arab vice-president had vetoed a draft of the electoral bill passed by parliament this month. Tariq al-Hashemi has now indicated he will also oppose an amended version agreed on Monday. The latest version would see more seats allocated to Kurds and fewer to Sunnis. The vote is seen as a prerequisite to the US meeting its goal of pulling out combat troops by August next year, and withdrawing fully by 2011... click
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A recent operation offers a peek inside the 'underground railroad,' a network of safe houses and secret border crossings that assists in the escape of North Korean refugees.As he cased the security at the foreign embassies in Hanoi, the 78-year-old retiree was seized with sudden self-doubt. He was certainly no John le Carre. Who was he to play spy?But this wasn't a game. Waiting in nearby safe houses were nine North Korean defectors whom Kim Sang-hun had helped spirit into Vietnam from China -- among them a young doctor and his wife, a mother and daughter, and a woman who'd been sold as a sex slave in Beijing."I thought, 'What am I doing here? I'm not a spy. Espionage takes resources and support,' " recalled the activist, who has devoted his retirement to helping refugees escape the repressive Stalinist regime. " 'I have no training. Is the mere will to succeed enough?' "Days earlier, Kim had received devastating news. Five other defectors, including a woman and her 6-year-old son, had been captured at the Chinese border en route to joining the other nine in Hanoi."They were almost there, and now they were gone, being sent back to North Korea to prison and perhaps death," he said. "I remember saying to someone, 'I wish I was dead.' "He thought about the defectors under his care: For months, they had lived under the constant threat of being caught by Chinese officials and returned to North Korea. Now in Hanoi, the activists' goal was to find the right embassy -- one away from a busy street and out of the steely gaze of Vietnamese secret police -- and then shepherd the defectors inside.Once within the embassy compound, the refugees could request sanctuary, taking another step toward freedom in South Korea. Click
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The attack came at first light. The village of Bogoro was turned into a slaughterhouse where "some were shot dead in their sleep, some cut up by machetes to save bullets", the International Criminal Court (ICC) was told yesterday. "Others were burned alive after their houses were set on fire by the attackers," the prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, recounted. Scores of women were raped, children were killed and young girls marched away to become sex slaves. When it was all over, one of the two suspects, Germain Katanga, was allegedly heard to boast: "Nothing was spared. Absolutely nothing. Chickens, goats, everything... was wiped out." Mr Katanga and Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui were in the dock yesterday in The Hague – in only the second trial to get under way at the permanent ICC (as distinct from the temporary courts judging war crimes in the Balkans and Liberia) – as prosecutors described the horrors of civil war in the north-east of the Democratic Republic of Congo... click
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A businessman once hired to help look for Madeleine McCann who is wanted by US authorities over an alleged fraud was arrested at a hotel, according to sources. Kevin Halligen, 48, was arrested yesterday afternoon at the Old Bank Hotel in Oxford, following a discrepancy over his hotel bill and is currently in custody in the county, it is understood. The US Department of Justice issued an indictment for the Briton two weeks ago alleging he tried to defraud a London law firm of more than two million dollars (£1.2m). His firm, Oakley International, was used by Madeleine's parents Kate and Gerry for around six months last year to look for their missing daughter. Thames Valley Police said in a statement: "We arrested a 48-year-old man yesterday morning at the Old Bank Hotel in Oxford. It was a discrepancy over his hotel bill." He is being held in custody in the city, and it is understood a court hearing relating to an extradition matter could take place later today. Earlier this month the US Department of Justice issued an indictment for Halligen, who is from Surrey, alleging he conned a London-based law firm out of 2.1m dollars. It is alleged he claimed the money was to help secure the release of two business executives from the Dutch company Trafigura, who were arrested in the Ivory Coast. Halligen is accused of using the funds for his own benefit including buying a mansion in Virginia. Washington-based Oakley International was paid around £300,000 by backers of Madeleine McCann's parents to help look for the child after she went missing from an Algarve resort in May 2007... click
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Japan's exports fell at their slowest annual rate in a year in October, providing further evidence of the country's emergence from recession. Exports from the world's second largest economy totalled 5.3tn yen ($60bn; $36bn), a fall of 23.2% from the same month a year earlier. The main reason for the improvement was higher demand in Asia, analysts said. Last week, Japan posted figures showing it had grown between July and September for the second straight quarter. "Japan is clearly participating in the global rebound, and its Asian neighbours in particular are lending a helping hand," said Adrian Foster at Rabobank. But while demand for Japanese products overseas improved, domestic demand for goods made outside Japan remained weak, falling by 35.6% in October... click
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