SAO PAULO, Brazil — Rioting inmates rounded up rivals in a Brazilian jail cell Thursday and torched it, killing 25 prisoners and showing once again how gangs rule the lockups across Latin America’s largest nation. The prisoners took control of the jail before dawn in the state of Minas Gerais and chose to settle scores by locking up members of an opposing gang faction in a cell and setting mattresses ablaze, police said. Authorities who had been trying to negotiate an end to the prison rebellion sprayed water inside to stop the blaze. A short time later, they found burned bodies littering the smoky cell.
Malaysia: Jesus image apology
A newspaper catering to Malaysia’s ethnic Indians published a front-page apology Thursday for printing an image of Jesus Christ holding a cigarette. Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi criticized the action as hurtful and an insult to Christians, and called on people not to play with religion, the national news agency Bernama reported. “If the Christians get to know about it, it will create problems,” Abdullah said. “I remind them again to stop doing this.”
Israel: Crematorium is torched
Israel’s only crematorium, abhorred by ultra-Orthodox Jews, has been heavily damaged by fire, and police said Thursday that arson was suspected. Burning bodies violates Orthodox Jewish law, which calls for a person to be interred intact. In Israel, crematoria also conjure up images of the ovens used to burn bodies in Nazi death camps. The crematorium’s operator told Channel 2 TV the facility has been running for two years, but its location hadn’t been disclosed for fear it would be attacked. Access is through a Web site and by phone.
Lebanon: Cluster bomb fatality
A cluster bomb left over from last year’s Hezbollah-Israel war exploded Thursday, killing a Lebanese mine-clearing expert and wounding three others who were trying to dismantle it, security officials said. The bomb went off in Nabatiyeh, the officials said. The dead man was identified as a member of the British-based Mine Advisory Group, which has been working in southern Lebanon since the withdrawal of Israeli forces from a border area in May 2000 after an 18-year occupation.
Britain: London’s slavery apology
An emotional Mayor Ken Livingstone apologized Thursday for his city’s role in the trans-Atlantic slave trade, saying London was still tainted by it. The notoriously outspoken Livingstone seldom apologizes for anything, but he choked up as he read an account of the brutal tortures suffered by slaves in Britain’s Caribbean colonies. The politician nicknamed “Red Ken” for his left-leaning views angrily denounced the role of his city’s corporations in financing the trade.
Pakistan: Musharraf opponent
Nawaz Sharif, head of a powerful Pakistani political party that wants to oust embattled President Pervez Musharraf, vowed to return quickly after the Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the former prime minister can come back from exile. Sharif, who was deposed as prime minister in a bloodless coup eight years ago, immediately turned up the heat in a growing public clamor for an end to military rule by calling on Washington to support Pakistan as a country — not just Musharraf. Washington has made clear that its war on terrorist groups takes priority over the speed of democratic reform.
From Herald news services
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