Saturday, July 21, 2007

'Honor Killing' in Britain Brings 2 Life Sentences

LONDON -- The father and uncle of an Iraqi Kurdish woman who was killed for falling in love with a man they disapproved of, an Iranian Kurd, were sentenced Friday to life in prison for ordering the killing.

The 2006 murder of Banaz Mahmod, 20, who was strangled after two hours of torture and sexual abuse, was part of an increasing number of "honor killings" among Muslim immigrants in Britain. Mahmod's family moved to Britain in 1998.

Her father, Mahmod Mahmod, and uncle, Ari Mahmod, were found guilty of ordering the slaying. A third man, Mohamad Hama, who had pleaded guilty to taking part in the killing, was sentenced to at least 17 years in prison.

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· UNITED NATIONS -- A U.N. Security Council resolution on Kosovo's future was set aside in the face of a possible Russian veto, with its U.S. and European Union supporters opting instead to pursue negotiations outside the council.

Discussions on the province, which remains part of Serbia, will be handled by a group that includes representatives from the United States, Britain, France, Italy, Germany and Russia, as well as the affected parties, France's U.N. ambassador said.

· PARIS -- The new leaders of France and Britain said they are prepared to go to Darfur to push for peace and will jointly urge the U.N. Security Council to speed up efforts to end the humanitarian catastrophe in the western Sudanese region.

· SOKOTO, Nigeria -- At least one person died and about 100 people were detained in a series of dawn raids in northern Nigeria, following sectarian clashes sparked by the killing of a popular Sunni cleric, a police commissioner said.

The raids were meant to end the violence that followed Wednesday's killing of a cleric known for his anti-Shiite rhetoric, said state police chief Shehu Usman.

· SAO PAULO, Brazil -- A disconnected thrust reverser emerged as a possible factor in the overshooting of a runway by a Brazilian jetliner, but the political heat intensified after an official expressed relief that blame for the deadly crash might shift away from the government. The accident Tuesday night at Sao Paulo's Congonhas airport killed 191 people.

· LA PAZ, Bolivia -- Hundreds of thousands of Bolivians took to the streets Friday to reject a proposal to move the seat of government from La Paz, in one of the biggest demonstrations ever held in the country.

The idea of relocating the seat of government to the city of Sucre emerged during discussions at an assembly that is rewriting the constitution, an effort driven by leftist President Evo Morales.

-- From News Services