AROUND TheWorld

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 16/01/2013 (5030 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Rape suspect may dodge death

NEW DELHI — Documents presented in a hearing Tuesday indicate that a suspect in the fatal gang rape of a young woman on a New Delhi bus in December was a juvenile at the time of the attack, a court official present at the hearing said.

Two principals from the suspect’s elementary school showed paperwork indicating that the suspect was a juvenile at the time of the attack, which would make him ineligible for the death penalty, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of a gag order on the case.

Jamaica may have hit paydirt

KINGSTON, Jamaica — Jamaica may be able to benefit from newly found deposits of rare-earth elements that are key ingredients for smartphones, computers and numerous other high-tech goods, the Caribbean island’s top mining official said Tuesday.

China is now the world’s main supplier of rare-earth elements, which are minerals that play a critical role in making products from basic communication devices to high-tech military weaponry. Worried by that dominance, manufacturers around the globe have been spurring searches for other sources that could be profitably mined.

In a statement to Jamaica’s Parliament, Science, Technology, Energy & Mining Minister Philip Paulwell said researchers from Japan’s Nippon Light Metal Co. Ltd. believe rare-earth elements can be efficiently extracted in Jamaica, where a once-flourishing bauxite industry has fallen on hard times.

France to triple Mali forces

BAMAKO, Mali — After a punishing bombing campaign failed to halt the advance of al-Qaida-linked fighters, France pledged Tuesday to triple the size of its force in Mali, sending in hundreds more troops as it prepared for a land assault to dislodge the militants occupying the northern half of the country.

The move reversed France’s earlier insistence on providing only aerial and logistical support for a military intervention led by African troops.

France plunged headfirst into the conflict in its former colony last week, bombarding the insurgents’ training camps, arms depots and safe houses in an effort to shatter the Islamist domination of a region many fear could become a launching pad for terrorist attacks on the West and a magnet for extremists.

Morsi under fire for remarks

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration Tuesday gave a blistering review of remarks by Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi three years ago about Jews and called for him to repudiate what it called unacceptable rhetoric.

In blunt comments, the White House and State Department said Morsi’s statements were “deeply offensive” and the State Department said the remarks complicated efforts to provide economic and military aid to Egypt.

Morsi was a leader in the Muslim Brotherhood in 2010 when, according to video broadcast last week on Egyptian television, he asked Egyptians to “nurse our children and our grandchildren on hatred.” Months later, in a television interview, Morsi referred to Zionists as bloodsuckers who attack Palestinians, describing Zionists as “the descendants of apes and pigs.”

— from the news services