Charges against detainee dropped

SAN JUAN - The Pentagon has dropped charges against a Saudi at Guantanamo who was alleged to have been the so-called "20th hijacker" in the Sept. 11 attacks, his US military defense lawyer said yesterday. Mohammed al-Qahtani was one of six men charged by the military in February with murder and war crimes for their alleged roles in the 2001 attacks. Authorities say Qahtani missed out on taking part in the attacks because he was denied entry to the United States by an immigration agent. But in reviewing the case, the convening authority for military commissions, Susan Crawford, decided to dismiss the charges against Qahtani and proceed with the arraignment for the other five, said Army Lieutenant Colonel Bryan Broyles, the Saudi's military lawyer. (AP)

PORT-AU-PRINCE - Former Inter-American Development Bank adviser Ericq Pierre was rejected as Haiti's new prime minister yesterday by lawmakers who said he had not given adequate proof he was descended from native-born Haitians. Pierre's nomination failed by a vote of 51-35, with nine members abstaining in the vote in the lower house of parliament, the Chamber of Deputies. He had won overwhelming approval in Haiti's Senate last Wednesday. (Reuters)

CARACAS - Hugo Chávez suggested German Chancellor Angela Merkel's party shared the ideals of Adolf Hitler after she said the Venezuelan president doesn't speak for all of Latin America. Chávez also warned he might confront the chancellor at Friday's summit of Latin American and European leaders in Peru. The Venezuelan leader lashed out at Merkel late Sunday, describing her conservative Christian Democratic Union party as "the same right wing that supported Hitler and fascism." Merkel's spokesman, Thomas Steg, said the chancellor would not add to what she had said in a recent interview - that no single country could harm overall relations between the European Union and Latin America. (AP)

TBILISI - Georgia's president urged the European Union yesterday to help protect his nation's territorial integrity, which he said is being threatened by Russia. After meeting foreign ministers from Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovenia, and Sweden, President Mikhail Saakashvili said Georgia expects the EU to help settle conflicts in its breakaway provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. He also told reporters that the EU's involvement in settling the conflicts would help Georgia's integration into Europe. (AP)

KIEV - Ukraine yesterday barred the powerful mayor of Moscow from entering the country in the future for reportedly suggesting that it should cede a key city to Russia. The move further strains already tense relations between the two former Soviet neighbors, as Moscow bitterly opposes Kiev's push to join NATO. Ukraine's State Security Service said in its statement that the comments of Mayor Yuri Luzhkov of Moscow were undermining national interests. (AP)