London

British Guantanamo detainees to be let go

The last four Britons held at Guantanamo Bay and an Australian who allegedly knew of plans for the 9-11 attacks but was never charged will be released within weeks after months of appeals to the United States, the three countries said Tuesday.

Moazzam Begg, Feroz Abbasi, Martin Mubanga and Richard Belmar will be returned to Britain, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said. They are among 550 prisoners from 42 countries being held at the U.S. naval base in Cuba.

Their impending release follows months of sensitive negotiations between Washington and London to address U.S. security concerns and a direct appeal by Prime Minister Tony Blair to President Bush. Britain maintained that the proposed military tribunal that Begg and Abbasi were to face did not meet international standards of justice.

Beijing

Congressman sees hope for talks with N. Korea

Rep. Tom Lantos, D-Calif., who played a role in the negotiations to end Libya’s nuclear program, said Tuesday after a visit to North Korea that he was “considerably more optimistic” that Pyongyang was ready to return to the stalled six-party talks over its nuclear ambitions.

“I hope my visit opens a new chapter in U.S.-North Korea relations, just as my three visits to Libya in 2004 have played an important role in dramatically improving Libya-U.S. relations,” said Lantos at a news conference in Beijing.

North Korea has kept the world at bay for more than two years, alternately threatening to deploy nuclear weapons and participating in international talks to give up its nuclear programs in exchange for a comprehensive aid and security package.

United Nations

Report: $147M seized from terrorists

Countries have seized or frozen $147 million in assets belonging to 435 individuals and groups linked to al-Qaida or the Taliban, crimping terrorist cash flows, a U.S. Treasury official said.

U.N. sanctions require all 191 U.N. member states to impose a travel ban and arms embargo against a list of those linked to Osama bin Laden’s terror network and the former Afghan rulers and to freeze their financial assets. The list currently includes 320 individuals and 115 groups.

“We think it is now harder, costlier and riskier for al-Qaida to raise and move money,” Assistant Treasury Secretary Juan Zarate said Monday after briefing the U.N. Security Council committee monitoring the sanctions.

Trinidad

Kidnappings plague island nation

Kidnapping is now so epidemic that Trinidad now ranks second in the world behind Colombia for its spiraling rate of abductions.

Victims and police point to a home-grown radical Muslim gang that sought to topple the government in 1990 and has since built a lucrative criminal empire. U.S. intelligence operatives are believed to be watching the militants of Jamaat al Muslimeen for signs that they are linked to global terrorist networks such as al-Qaida.

Kidnapping has been on the rise throughout the Caribbean and Latin America, but it has soared in Trinidad. In 2001, this country of 1.2 million had fewer than 10 kidnappings. In 2002, the number was 29. In the last couple of years, the figure has been about 150.