FARC denies holding tourists
Colombia’s Communist rebel group Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), has issued a communiqué late denying any responsibility in the kidnapping of eight overseas tourists.
The two Britons, four Israelis, a German and a Spaniard were abducted before dawn in Indian ruins known as the Lost City known as “Ciudad Perdida” in Spanish — in the Tayrona national park, in the Sierra Nevada mountains on Colombia’s Caribbean coast.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the abduction but Colombian authorities immediately blamed FARC guerrillas and launched a huge search and rescue operation.
The hunt is drawing on the firepower of some 1,500 soldiers and police, including jungle-trained commandos and elite anti-kidnap squads, as well as nine helicopter gunships.
In its three-point communiqué FARC denied any involvement in the snatch. They blamed the incident on Colombia’s military intelligence, accusing the army of wanting to stage a phony rescue operation in order to give the impression they were winning the country’s long-running war against the rebels. (CNN)

Gay Canadian couple denied entry to US
Two gay Canadian men who are legally wed in Ontario say they were refused entry into the United States on Sept. 18 after a US customs official at the airport wouldn’t accept their customs clearance form declaring themselves a family.
Kevin Bourassa and Joe Varnell say they abandoned their trip to Georgia when the customs official at Pearson International Airport rejected their family customs declaration form, insisting that they fill out separate forms as single people.
After complaining to a customs supervisor, Bourassa said the couple was told that they wouldn’t be allowed into the United States as a family because the country doesn’t recognize same-sex marriages.
“When we realized we weren’t going to be allowed into the country, we had to make a real hard decision,” Bourassa, claiming a violation of human rights, said in an interview from the couple’s Toronto home.
“We could have filled out separate forms, but how much of your dignity do you want to have chipped away? We feel we had an affront to our dignity, so we decided to go back home.”
Same-sex marriage is legal in British Columbia and Ontario, where there have been favorable court rulings. Ottawa has drafted legislation that redefines marriage as a union of two persons, but it won’t be introduced in Parliament until the Supreme Court of Canada reviews the constitutionality of the proposed legislation, likely next year.
Bourassa said he and Varnell were heading to Braselton, Georgia, to speak at a human rights conference featuring Coretta Scott King, the widow of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. (Canadian Press)

Britain uses ‘anti-terrorism’ laws against protesters
British police used powers under section 44 of the Terrorism Act to stop and search protesters during demonstrations outside of Europe’s largest arms exhibition, the Defense Systems and Equipment International Conference, held in London’s Docklands beginning Sept. 9.
At least 114 people were arrested during the week-long “arms fair,” many being searched. The vast majority were arrested for “highway obstruction” and “breach of the peace.” No terrorists were found.
Protesters mobilized to denounce Britain’s participation in the occupation of Iraq and use of London as a venue where the latest in military technology can be sold to dictatorships and authoritarian regimes around the world.
The use of “anti-terrorism” powers against protesters was widely condemned, from the former Conservatives Party transport minister Steven Norris to London mayor Ken Livingstone. Even the Labor government’s home secretary David Blunkett, who is responsible for policing, said that the police abused their powers.
Scotland Yard’s deputy assistant commissioner Andy Trotter said that the arrests were necessary. “I don’t think the public would forgive us if we allowed terrorists to get through under the cloak of public disorder,” Trotter said on Sept. 10. (Green Left Weekly)

Venezuela’s Chavez warns foes after barracks blast
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Sept. 20 blamed his political enemies for an explosion that blew out windows at the Caracas barracks of his presidential guard but caused no injuries.
Chavez said security police were investigating dissident military officers for Friday’s blast, which rattled his honor guard headquarters nearby Miraflores Presidential Palace.
“These terrorists set off a bomb against my presidential guard... and now they will get their response,” Chavez said. “My office is about 200 meters away and it shook from the blast.”
State security police detained a man in an opposition stronghold in Caracas late on Friday after a confused gunfight in which one person was shot and injured, local officials and witnesses said.
The heavy gunfire in Altamira Square, in the eastern district of Chacao — a bastion of opposition support and the site of a protest by dissident military officers nearly a year ago — rattled nerves in the city after the explosion near the presidential palace.
The gunfight and the explosion occurred as opponents of the populist Chavez, who survived a coup last year, are waging a campaign to call a referendum on his rule in the world’s No. 5 oil exporter. They accuse him of ruling like a dictator.
Chavez’s government and its foes often accuse each other of acts of violence. (Reuters)

US told not to ‘sulk’ over Cancun
The US has been warned not to adopt a “childish or sulking” attitude towards southern Africa, following the collapse of recent world trade talks in Cancun.
The warning came on Sept. 19 from Botswanan Trade and Industry Minister Jacob Nkate, who headed the Africa, Caribbean and Pacific group at the World Trade Organization (WTO) talks.
The Botswana minister was responding to warnings from voices in the US senate that Washington might punish African states for failing to give into pressure from the first world by toughening its stance in the current free trade area talks between the US and the Southern African Customs Union.
Nkate said it had been important for developing states to have stood up to the richer nations.
He said Cancun had for the first time seen unity among three important, overlapping groupings the African, Caribbean and Pacific bloc, the least developed countries and the African Union.
“The smaller economies are saying that if we wish to be taken seriously, we need to come together and to speak with one voice.” (Business Day (Johannesburg))

Bush steps up fight against European safety testing
President George W. Bush is mounting an intensive campaign to force European countries to drop safety tests expected to save thousands of lives each year, internal US government documents seen by The Independent (UK) reveal. Britain, which has been generally supportive, last week denounced the measures as “disastrously wrong.”
The documents — which include diplomatic cables signed by the US Secretary of State, Colin Powell — show that the Bush administration has threatened Europe with trade sanctions if it goes ahead with the tests, which are designed to protect workers and the public from highly toxic chemicals.
It has already succeeded in weakening the proposals, even though they were approved in principle two years ago by EU governments and the European Parliament. And environmentalists fear that Bush — with Tony Blair’s help — will now succeed in emasculating them altogether.
The tests are designed to identify the most dangerous chemicals threatening Europeans, including cancer-causing and “gender-bender” substances, so that they can be controlled. Only a tiny proportion of the 100,000 or so man-made chemicals used in the EU have ever been tested for the effects on the people who use them. (Independent (UK))

Maldives hit by rioting
The President of the Maldives went on television to appeal for calm after an unprecedented two days of clashes between police and local people triggered by the deaths of three prisoners.
Armored vehicles were reported to be patrolling the streets of the capital, Male, enforcing a curfew after government buildings were attacked and police cars set on fire by angry crowds. The violence was triggered on Friday by the deaths of three inmates of a jail close to the capital, after a protest over alleged torture.
According to the relatives of the dead men, they were beaten to death by the police. Other witnesses said that a fight in the prison between two men led to the death of another man at the hands of the police, sparking a riot. The police authorities disputed these claims.
Five officials from the elite National Security Service, who were allegedly responsible for the torture, were suspended, President Gayoom said.
The predominantly Muslim country has been under one-party rule since Gayoom came to power in 1978, although there is no official ban on political parties. Gayoom is campaigning for a sixth successive term.
Despite its image as a paradise destination for honeymooners, divers and other western tourists, the Maldives has drawn harsh criticism recently for human rights abuses.
In a report published in July this year, Amnesty International accused the government of political repression and torture. Arbitrary detentions, unfair trials and long-term imprisonment of government critics was said to be “endemic” throughout the country’s criminal justice system. (Independent (UK))