Bombing seven death sentence

KUWAIT: Seven people were sentenced to death yesterday over June’s Islamic State suicide bombing at a Shi’ite mosque in the capital that killed 27.

Another eight defendants received prison terms of between two to 15 years, while another 14 were acquitted.

The June 26 bombing of the Imam Sadiq Mosque, which also wounded 227 people, was the first major terrorist attack in Kuwait in more than two decades.

Bangkok bombing linked to trafficking

THAILAND: National police chief Somyot Poompanmoung said yesterday that authorities are now certain that last month’s deadly bombing at a Bangkok shrine was related to the trafficking of Uighur Muslims from China to Turkey.

“It’s a network that smuggles Uighurs from one country to the other,” Mr Somyot said.

“The bombing at Rajaprasong resulted from the fact that Thai authorities destroyed or disrupted their human trafficking network and they couldn’t continue their business.”

Namibian President visit

CUBA: Namibian President Hage Gottfried Geingob arrived in Havana on Monday for his first state visit outside of the African continent.

Dr Gottfried Geingob said: “Given the bonds of friendship uniting us with the government and people of Cuba, this country had to be first one — outside of Africa — I visited as the new president of Namibia.”

Cuba’s extraordinary military campaign against apartheid South Africa’s invasion of Angola in the 1980s led to Namibia’s independence.

Minister calls for an end of the blockade

CUBA: Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez will today urge an end to the criminal US blockade of his nation in a report to the UN general assembly.

While the blockade is still in place, last week the United States Agency for International Development advertised highly paid posts for managers to engage in “democracy promotion” in Cuba.

The report details the huge damage inflicted on the Cuban people by the unilateral and extraterritorial US policy over the past 50 years.

Baldizon quits presidential race

GUATEMALA: Unsuccessful presidential candidate Manuel Baldizon quit his party and dropped out of the race on Monday, claiming electoral fraud.

The Renewed Democratic Liberty (Lider) party leader said he could not endorse the results of the September 6 vote that put him in third place behind TV comedian Jimmy Morales and former first lady Sandra Torres.

Mr Morales and Ms Torres will go into the October 25 run-off election.

Officer refused bail for Scott murder

US: A judge denied bail on Monday for a white former South Carolina police officer charged with the murder of black motorist Walter Scott.

A bystander videoed North Charleston officer Michael Slager shooting Mr Scott eight times in the back as he ran away on April 4 this year.

Prosecutor Scarlett Wilson had called Slager “a firing squad and executioner” and said he planted fake evidence by Mr Scott’s corpse.

Unions warn of privatisation

NEW ZEALAND: Trade unionists warned yesterday that a new report from the Productivity Commission would be used as a pretext to open up social services to disastrous privatisation.

The Council of Trade Unions (CTU) Secretary Sam Huggard said: “This report creates the way for the government to shift social services away from public ownership and accountability.”

He warned of privateers such as Serco who “have shown themselves to be disastrous managers of privately run prisons.”

UAW talks with Chrysler continue

US: Talks between Fiat Chrysler and the United Auto Workers (UAW) union continued early yesterday morning after both sides extended their current agreement on an hour-by-hour basis.

The UAW announced on Sunday that it had picked Fiat Chrysler as its target company in the contract talks, meaning the four-year deal there would be the model for deals with General Motors and Ford.