Indonesia dashes condemned Australians’ last hope
Indonesia has ruled out the possibility that two Australians facing the death sentence can be saved, despite their lawyers’ call for a last appeal. Indonesia’s attorney-general said he would not wait for Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran’s lawyers to enter a new legal challenge. H. M. Prasetyo predicted any such challenge would fail; plans to execute the two Australians and other drug offenders will go ahead this month, he said.
Families of girls switched at birth win compensation
The families of two women swapped at birth more than 20 years ago, have won nearly $A3 million in compensation. The Cannes clinic responsible for the mistake was ordered by a court to pay $581,000 to each woman, and $436,000 to the three surviving parents and $87,000 to three siblings. The parents found out about the swap, and met their biological daughters, when the children were 10 years old. A lawyer for one of the families told French television the families accepted the court ruling and would not appeal. The families do not socialise.
Greste trial and verdict criticised by appeals judge
An Egyptian judge has condemned the 2014 trial of three Al-Jazeera journalists including Australian Peter Greste in an analysis published this week. Judge Anwar Gabry, deputy head of the court of cassation, found the trial did not prove charges that the trio helped the Muslim Brotherhood and furthered a terrorist. The three will be retried in Cairo this week, but Greste will not return for the hearings. The fate of his colleagues Baher Mohamed and Mohamed Famy, who have been in jail after 400 days, depends on the new verdict.
Crisis in Yemen forces US Embassy to close
The US embassy in the embattled Yemen capital, Sana’a, closed today because of uncertainty about the security of staff. Shi’ite-backed Houthi rebels captured the city last September, and the presidential palace last month, forcing the US-backed President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi to resign. UN-mediated talks between The Shi’ite militants and formal Yemeni political parties met on Monday to discuss forming a transitional administration but were abandoned threats were made by the rebels. The Houthis have demanded that a “transitional council” govern Yemen for two years.
Aid worker confirmed dead, cause unclear
A US citizen, Kayla Mueller, 26, held hostage by the Islamic State for 18 months was confirmed dead by her family and the US government on Tuesday. Doubts about claims she had died were dispelled when US intelligence authenticated a photograph her family received by email from the terrorist group over the weekend. IS claimed that Mueller was killed in Jordanian airstrikes against the extremist groups positions. President Barack Obama has vowed to seek justice against her captors. – Compiled from web sources by Keisha Miller and Jion Legaspi
Top photo by Oxana Kriss.
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