Print

Email story

Comment

Letter to the editor

U.S. military releases 85 Afghan prisoners

By wire services
Published May 2, 2005

KABUL, Afghanistan - The U.S. military released 85 Afghans from its jails in Afghanistan on Sunday after deciding they posed no threat and hearing them swear loyalty to the government.

American forces have detained thousands of people since entering Afghanistan in 2001.

Rahmat Nadim, an Afghan intelligence service official, said they were in custody for between three months and nearly three years.

VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI, embracing a cherished habit of his predecessor, appeared at his apartment's window on St. Peter's Square on Sunday for the first time in his papacy to bless tens of thousands of onlookers.

Looking vigorous and confident, Pope Benedict cut a figure sharply contrasting with the late pope's last time at the studio window on March 30.

The new pope sang a Latin prayer in a voice so strong it boomed across the square from the third-floor window of the Apostolic Palace.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - The former prime minister for ousted Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide will leave for the Dominican Republic today for medical treatment after resuming a hunger strike to protest his prolonged detention, the Dominican military chief said Sunday.

Yvon Neptune, who has been held without charge for 10 months in connection with political killings during the February 2004 rebellion that ousted Aristide, will be taken to a hospital in the Dominican capital of Santo Domingo, Adm. Sigfrido Pared Perez said.

There was no word Sunday from Haiti's interim government on whether it had agreed to allow Neptune to leave the country permanently or it expected him to return.

Interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue and his justice minister could not be reached for comment.

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras - A small plane carrying Honduran President Ricardo Maduro made an emergency landing near the Caribbean shoreline Sunday, and Maduro suffered bruises that required hospitalization, his spokesman said.

KATMANDU, Nepal - Thousands of protesters marched through Nepal's capital on Sunday to demand the restoration of democracy in one of the biggest shows of opposition strength since King Gyanendra seized absolute power three months ago.

[Last modified May 2, 2005, 01:42:09]