Ex-Guantanamo prisoner became Iraq bomber

Ex-Guantanamo prisoner became Iraq bomber

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — A Kuwaiti freed from Guantanamo Bay carried out a suicide car bombing recently in Iraq, the U.S. military said Wednesday, confirming what is believed to be the first such attack by a former detainee at the U.S. military detention center in Cuba.

Abdallah Salih al-Ajmi took part in one of three suicide bomb attacks last month that targeted Iraqi security forces in the northern city of Mosul, said U.S. Navy Cmdr. Scott Rye, a military spokesman in Baghdad. At least seven people were killed in the attacks.

Up to 36 former Guantanamo detainees have resumed hostilities against the U.S., including some who have been taken back into custody or killed, the Pentagon says.

Warlord extradited to U.S. to face drug charges

BOGOTA, Colombia — Colombia extradited a paramilitary warlord to the United States on Wednesday for trial on drug charges, accusing him of violating a peace pact by selling drugs and commanding illegal militia fighters from prison.

A grim-faced Carlos Mario Jimenez, handcuffed and wearing a black bulletproof vest, was escorted onto a Super King 350 plane in a Bogota airport hangar shortly after midnight — a scene shown in a video released by police.

Authorities said he was flown to Washington via Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Later Wednesday, officials announced the seizure of 25 homes, 23 vehicles and six businesses belonging to Jimenez that they valued at $20 million — as well as goods including 26 watches and 14 Mont Blanc pens.

Israel’s Memorial Day

JERUSALEM — Sirens wailed across Israel Wednesday, bringing the nation to a standstill in a solemn two-minute ritual on the country’s Memorial Day for fallen soldiers and victims of Palestinian suicide bombings and other attacks.

Pedestrians stood at attention and motorists stepped out of their cars, halting traffic as the sirens rang out. Radio and TV programming were interrupted for the two minutes.

Memorial Day is one of the most somber and emotional days on the Israeli calendar, with nearly every Israeli family touched by decades of conflict. It comes a day before the country celebrates the 60th anniversary of its independence.

Farmers protest tax

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Argentine farmers say they are launching an eight-day protest against higher export taxes on soybeans and other grains.

Farmers say a month of tax talks with the government yielded no compromise. Thousands gathered on roadsides Wednesday, vowing to suspend grain shipments.

They pledged not to block highways, though, as they did during a 21-day strike in March.

At that time, hundreds of roadblocks strangled shipments of beef and produce to Argentine cities, marking the country’s worst-ever farm strike.

Victim of Sept. 11 attacks

NEW YORK — More than two years after he took his last breath, a detective who developed lung disease after toiling in the World Trade Center’s ruins has been added to the New York Police Department’s wall of heroes.

James Zadroga was one of eight officers who died of post-Sept. 11 illness added to the NYPD’s memorial wall, their names engraved onto bronze plaques in the lobby of police headquarters. They became the first NYPD members to be memorialized for dying of illnesses they blame on the dust they breathed at ground zero.

Zadroga, 34, worked hundreds of hours at ground zero beginning Sept. 11, 2001. He soon developed respiratory ailments and died in January 2006 of lung disease.

Nigeria tackles food crisis

LAGOS, Nigeria — Nigeria on Wednesday announced it was suspending import duties and other taxes on rice while launching a raft of other measures to head off a food crisis in Africa’s most populous nation.

The government said that it will not collect taxes on imported rice until the end of October at the earliest in a bid to curb rising prices on the staple food for many of Nigeria’s 140 million people. It also said it would seek to bolster domestic rice production while increasing its stock of emergency stores.

Soaring fuel prices, growing demand from the burgeoning middle classes in India and China and poor weather have contributed to the jump in food prices worldwide, economists say. Africa has been particularly hard hit.

Associated Press