Articles by Super User

PARIS – The Council of Europe’s human rights commissioner, Alvaro Gil-Robles, has told France’s Le Monde newspaper that the U.S. military ran a Guantanamo Bay-type detention center in Kosovo, and that he was “shocked” by the conditions he witnessed there in 2002. However, he has no proof that the center, located within the U.S. military’s Camp Bondsteel, is linked to alleged CIA “ghost prison” operations.

The Council of Europe, which guarantees human rights in its 46 member states, has launched an investigation into the alleged secret prisons. Dick Marty, who is leading the probe, has already concluded that Romania, which rights groups have labeled a likely site for a secret center, has not hosted a large jail, but didn’t exclude the possibility of small facilities with one or two detainees being kept temporarily for interrogation. read more

BEIJING – Is China beginning to go green? There are some early signs, including the nation’s latest five-year plan, which calls for the efficient use of resources to build an “environmentally friendly society,” and tax reforms discussed at a recent seminar. The latter include preferential policies for the recycling industry and a possible consumption tax for disposable chopsticks, plastic bags, diapers, and other environmentally harmful goods.

According to chinaview.com, when the ideas were outlined by taxation chief Xie Xuren, scholars like Li Xiangju of Xi’an Communications University were enthusiastic. “Things like disposable chopsticks and plastic bags cause a big waste on natural resources and pose environmental hazards,” he said. read more

BEIJING – China has suspended plans to allow the domestic publication of foreign newspapers due to what officials are calling the threat of “color revolutions” backed by the West.

 "When I think of the ‘color revolutions’, I feel afraid," Shi Zongyuan, head of the General Administration of Press and Publication, told the UK‘s Financial Times.

Shi was referring to the growth of opposition movements that have toppled regimes in Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, and the Ukraine. China’s leaders compare these "color revolutions" -so named because of the color and flower symbols adopted by protesters – to the uprisings that led in the late 1980s to the fall of Communist governments in Europe, and claim that Pres. George Bush’s repeated calls for the global promotion of democracy fuel such revolts. read more

NEW YORK – The UN’s Special Rapporteur on Torture has cancelled a planned trip to the Guantanamo detention center on Dec. 6 due a refusal by U.S. officials to allow private contact with detainees. According to Agence France Press, a UN inspection team led by Manfred Nowak had set a Nov. 17 deadline for acceptance of specific conditions, including interviews with some of the more than 500 prisoners being held at the detention facility within the U.S. naval base.

Deutsche Presse Agentur, Germany‘s national news agency, notes that only representatives of the Red Cross International Committee have been allowed to talk to the detainees in private. International conventions require that they not discuss thee conversations. read more

HAVANA – The CIA has recently issued a report that Cuban leader Fidel Castro is suffering from Parkinson’s disease. "The assessment is that he has the disease and that his condition has progressed," an unnamed official told Reuters and other news outlets.

The news quickly spread around the world, accompanied by a rehashing of Castro’s fall last year, which resulted in a fractured kneecap and right arm.

But mainstream news outlets were less eager to report that the 79-year-old spoke on his feet for several hours last week, addressing University Student Federation leaders, students and teachers during a 60th anniversary ceremony for his entry to Havana´s University. read more

BETHLEHEM – Just in time for Christmas, the birthplace of Christ has been sealed off from Jerusalem by a 25-foot wall and huge iron gate resembling a nuclear shelter, reports the UK Times. The wall and sentry posts are the latest addition to the controversial 423-mile barrier that Israel is constructing through Jerusalem and the West Bank.

Israel‘s government sees the wall as the key to separating itself from the Palestinians, and points to its recent success in stemming the flow of suicide bombers and gunmen. But it also means that Bethlehem‘s 30,000 Palestinians are walled off from Jerusalem, two of the most popular destinations for visitors to the Holy Land. read more