World Scene – 12/08/08

(from WashingtonTimes.com, from wire dispatches and Washington Times staff reports) World Scene 

GUINEA — Junta chief shot, injured by aide

CONAKRY | Guinea junta chief Moussa Dadis Camara was shot and injured Thursday by one of his aides, military sources said, after witnesses reported gunfire at a military base.

A government official said on state radio that the aide had been arrested.

“Captain Dadis Camara was lightly injured in a shooting by his aide de camp, Aboubacar Toumba Diakite,” a member of the junta leader’s protocol office told Agence France-Presse.

Capt. Camara’s spokesman Idrissa Cherif said later that the leader was “doing well.”

Capt. Camara had just left Camp Samory Toure in Conakry’s administrative center when the attack occurred, a source said.

POLAND — Lawmakers defend crucifixes in schools

WARSAW | Polish lawmakers have approved a resolution defending the predominantly Roman Catholic nation’s right to hang crucifixes in public schools.

Lawmakers wanted to voice opposition to a decision by the European Court of Human Rights, which ruled last month against the display of crucifixes in Italian schools.

That ruling does not require that Poland remove the crosses that hang in most public schools, but Polish lawmakers fear it could force an eventual review of the use of religious symbols in government-run schools across Europe.

NORTH KOREA — American envoys prepare for visit

A senior U.S. delegation will travel to North Korea [this] week for talks aimed at restarting nuclear disarmament negotiations.

State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters Thursday that two State Department envoys for North Korea, Stephen Bosworth and Sung Kim, along with White House and Defense Department officials will be in Pyongyang, North Korea, [this] Tuesday through Thursday.

They will then travel to Seoul, Beijing, Tokyo and Moscow before returning to Washington on Dec. 15.

North Korea, its neighbors and the United States are locked in a standoff over the North’s atomic weapons ambitions.

IRELAND — Lawmakers eye gay union bill

DUBLIN | Ireland’s lawmakers opened debate Thursday on a bill to grant marriage-style rights to gay couples, a social milestone in a country long observant of Roman Catholic opposition to homosexuality.

Justice Minister Dermot Ahern said the bill would give gay couples the same rights as married heterosexual couples on questions of property ownership, inheritance, medical care and access to state benefits.

BRITAIN (United Kingdom) — Bin Laden son told to stay away

LONDON | The British government says it has refused to allow a son of Osama bin Laden to travel to Britain.

Omar bin Laden had appealed an earlier decision by British authorities to keep him out of Britain. The 28-year-old son of the al Qaeda leader wants to come to Britain to be with his 58-year-old English partner, Jane Felix-Browne, whom he says he has married.

Mark Ockelton of the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal said Thursday that Omar bin Laden’s appeal has been rejected because authorities do not think his marriage is valid.

Omar bin Laden had sought asylum in Spain, but Spanish authorities last year refused him permission to remain in the country and deported him to Egypt. He said at the time that he did not feel safe in Arab countries.

NOTE: The World Scene above was published at WashingtonTimes.com on Friday, Dec. 4.

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