GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – British reporter Alan Johnston, looking pale and tired, was released Wednesday after nearly four months in captivity in the Gaza Strip and said it was “fantastic” to be free after an “appalling” ordeal. The British Broadcasting Corp. correspondent described his time in captivity as “occasionally quite terrifying. It was an appalling experience,” he said, speaking from the home of deposed Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh in Gaza. Johnston was kidnapped by a shadowy, little-known group from a Gaza City street on March 12 and held far longer than any other foreign reporter in Gaza.
France: New research on embryos
An older woman’s slim chances of getting pregnant could be made worse if embryos are screened for defects before being implanted into the womb, doctors said Wednesday. Pregnancy and live birth rates were substantially lower among women whose embryos were screened compared with those whose were not, according to a study presented this week at a Lyon meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology.
Cuba: Movies for Gitmo inmates
The U.S. military is seeking to improve conditions for many Guantanamo Bay detainees by offering more recreation and activities, including a weekly movie night for the best-behaved, the commander of the detention center said Tuesday. A year after three suicides and a riot prompted a security overhaul, the military hopes to provide “increased mental stimulation” with expanded recreation areas, he said. “There are certainly benefits to giving them outlets other than sitting in their cell or sitting in their recreation cell for hours at a time with nothing else to exercise their mind or think about other than their situation,” he said.
China: Transplant rules tightened
The Chinese government imposed new restrictions Tuesday on organ transplants for foreigners, saying Chinese citizens should get priority when organs become available. The regulations, handed down by the Health Ministry, stipulated that foreigners visiting China on tourist visas cannot receive transplants, hospitals cannot advertise abroad and any hospital planning to carry out a transplant in a foreign patient must first receive authorization from Chinese health authorities.
Ireland: Cocaine bales float ashore
Bales of a record haul of cocaine spilled from a smuggling boat that capsized off the coast are washing up on the shores of County Cork, officials said Tuesday. Police made the discovery when one of the suspected smugglers swam ashore Monday and reported that a colleague was still in the water. A search turned up the missing smuggler and a flotilla of floating cocaine bundles. A police superintendent said the cocaine haul already retrieved was estimated to exceed 1.5 tons and was worth $145 million – a record for Ireland.
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