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World in brief

U.S. court reinstates verdict against Salvadoran generals

By wire services
Published January 8, 2006

MIAMI - A federal appeals court reinstated a $54.6-million verdict against two retired Salvadoran generals accused of torture during the civil war in their home country two decades ago.

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta reversed Wednesday its earlier decision to toss out the 2002 judgment against Gens. Carlos Eugenio Vides Casanova, 67, and Jose Guillermo Garcia, 72.

The appeals court had ruled in February that a statute of limitations had expired before the generals were sued. The court said the three torture victims who filed the lawsuit failed to prove unfair circumstances prevented them from bringing their case forward before the 10-year statute expired.

But Wednesday, the court said "extraordinary circumstances" did exist in the torture case and the verdict should be reinstated. The original West Palm Beach jury found Vides Casanova and Garcia ignored massacres and other acts of brutality against civilians during the war.

The victims - a church worker, doctor and professor - fled to the United States after being brutalized by Salvadoran soldiers.

The former generals' attorney, Kurt Klaus, said he can still file another appeal asking for a rehearing with the Atlanta appeals court.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - The United Nations said Saturday it has suspended aid missions to two parts of Pakistan's quake-hit Kashmir region where dozens of survivors stormed two U.N. helicopters and forced an airlift out of the devastated area.

The U.N. said it canceled planned flights into Bana Mula and Leepa, both more than 60 miles southwest of Muzaffarabad. It was investigating the incident and evaluating the possibility of relocating villagers to lower-lying areas.

On Friday, more than 50 survivors forced the pilots of two U.N. helicopters to take them to Muzaffarabad and Abbottabad, a hub for relief activities. One air safety officer was assaulted, the United Nations said, without elaborating.

Pakistan, meanwhile, said it had prepared several contingency relief camps stocked with food to cope with any wave of refugees heading to lower ground during the harsh Himalayan winter.

Days of heavy storms have dumped up to 9 feet of snow in some areas of Kashmir and northwestern Pakistan, forcing the suspension of helicopter flights and aid deliveries. More snow is forecast over the next 72 hours.

The Oct. 8 quake killed some 87,000 people and left 3.5-million homeless, mostly in Kashmir and Pakistan's northwestern region.

CAIRO - Syrian President Bashar Assad denied threatening Lebanon's former prime minister but suggested in an interview published Saturday that he would not allow U.N. investigators to ask him about Rafik Hariri's killing.

Syria's former Vice President Abdul-Halim Khaddam, who defected to France, said Friday that Assad had threatened Hariri during their last meeting.

"I don't know what others meant by threatening," Assad was quoted as saying in the Egyptian opposition weekly al-Osboa. "This never happened and the aim was to connect the threat with the assassination. The game is clear. Nobody attended the last meeting between me and Hariri, therefore, how can they make these allegations?"

Assad also indirectly rejected the latest request from U.N. investigators to interview him about the Hariri assassination, saying he has international immunity.Hariri died in a truck bombing in February.

LONDON - The leader of Britain's opposition Liberal Democrats resigned his post under pressure from the party Saturday, days after he acknowledged battling a drinking problem.

Charles Kennedy initially resisted stepping down despite calls from nearly half of the party's lawmakers for him to quit, saying the Liberal Democrats' rank and file still backed him.

He changed course Saturday, saying he was resigning immediately and would not run in leadership elections. Kennedy, 46, acknowledged for the first time Thursday that he had sought medical help for his drinking. Rumors about his alcohol abuse had been widespread for years.

MIRAN SHAH, Pakistan - An explosion at a Pakistani house killed eight people Saturday, witnesses said. A tribal elder claimed U.S. helicopters had attacked, but the U.S. military denied operating in the area.

Pakistan's army declined to comment on the blast at a Muslim cleric's home in North Waziristan's remote Saidgi village, about 3 miles from the Afghan border.

About 20,000 U.S. troops are in Afghanistan, but Pakistan says they are not allowed to operate on its side of the border.

Chief army spokesman Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan said he had no details about the incident. U.S. military spokesman Lt. Mike Cody said he had no reports of U.S. aircraft bombing targets near the border Saturday.

[Last modified January 8, 2006, 00:45:14]