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French special forces to leave Afghanistan

By TIMES WIRES
Published December 18, 2006

France is to withdraw its 200-strong special forces from Afghanistan, all of its ground troops engaged in the U.S. antiterror operation there, authorities announced Sunday. The decision to pull the elite troops, based in the southeastern city of Jalalabad, comes as the Taliban militia is gaining strength despite the strong engagement - some 32,800 troops - in NATO's International Security Assistance Force. France has balked at sending its 1,100-strong NATO contingent outside the relatively safe Afghan capital, Kabul. "There is a general reorganization of our (troops)," Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said during a visit to Afghanistan. The NATO contingent will remain in Afghanistan, Capt. Sebastien Caron, Defense Ministry press officer, said in Paris.

Military rehearses terrorism hearings

The U.S. military is rehearsing for hearings on whether 14 top terror suspects can be held indefinitely without charge as enemy combatants at the Guantanamo Bay naval base, but defense lawyers say the outcome is preordained. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, and the 13 others will be the highest-profile detainees to undergo the so-called Combatant Status Review Tribunals, and the first to do so in two years. The proceedings, expected early next year, are open to the media. At the hearings, a military panel will evaluate whether the men should be classified as "enemy combatants," a designation which allows them to be held indefinitely and prevents them from challenging their detention in the U.S. court system.

Former president leads in elections

Former Iranian leader Hashemi Rafsanjani, who is considered an opponent of hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was far ahead in the race for a seat on a powerful clerical body, according to partial election results reported by state-run television Sunday. Rafsanjani had more than 1.5-million votes for a seat in the Assembly of Experts, a body of 86 senior clerics that monitors Iran's supreme leader and chooses his successor, state TV said. His main rival, Ayatollah Mohammad Taqi Mesbah Yazdi, had about 860,000 votes. Final results were not expected until today or later.

Ailing Italian ex-premier in U.S.

Former Premier Silvio Berlusconi, 70, has decided to have surgery in the United States, a close ally said Sunday amid reports that the ailing media mogul would get a pacemaker. A senior aide was quoted as saying Berlusconi went to the United States for medical tests, and his spokesman was quoted as saying he had arrived. "Berlusconi has decided to have surgery in America," Northern League Party leader Umberto Bossi said.

Scores feared dead in boat wreck

Scores of migrants who spent days at sea were missing and feared dead Sunday after their boat wrecked off Senegal's coast, the Red Cross said. About 150 people were believed to have been on the small wooden boat, two dozen of whom were rescued by fishermen Saturday near the northern Senegalese city of St. Louis, said Red Cross spokesman Mama Niang. Security authorities confirmed that 24 people were rescued.

[Last modified December 18, 2006, 00:11:14]