The News Review:
- Rice K’d CIA waterboard request as Bush adviser
- UN urges Tamil Tigers to surrender
- India polls resume amid attacks
Rice K’d CIA waterboard request as Bush adviser
The Associated Press
Bush Condoleezza Rice verbally approved the CIA’s request to subject alleged al-Qaida terrorist Abu Zubaydah to waterboarding in July 2002 the earliest known decision by a Bush administration official to K use of the simulated drowning technique. Rice’s role was detailed in a narrative released Wednesday by the Senate Intelligence Committee. It provides the most detailed timeline yet for how the CIA’s harsh interrogation program was conceived and approved at the highest levels in the Bush White House. The new timeline shows that Rice played a greater role than she admitted last fall in written testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee.
UN urges Tamil Tigers to surrender
Aljazeera.net
ASIA UN urges Tamil Tigers to surrender. Wednesday’s call by Claude Heller the council’s rotating president came as rights groups pressed the UN to do more warning that tens of thousands of civilians remain stuck in “catastrophic” conditions. Heller said: “We demand that the LTTE [Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam] immediately lay down arms renounce terrorism allow a UN-assisted evacuation of the remaining civilians in the conflict area and join the political process. ‘Human shields’Diplomats told reporters after the closed session that the security council “strongly condemned” the Tigers and accused them of using civilians trapped in a small strip of land as human shields.
Related from Defacedeath: Two key Tamil Tigers ‘surrender’
India polls resume amid attacks
Aljazeera.net
ASIA India holds second round of vote. The second of five rounds of polling opened on Thursday a day after suspected Maoist rebels briefly hijacked a train in the east of the country. Polling in the election began on April 16 and will continue for a month with results expected on May 16. With more than 700 million eligible voters India normally holds staggered elections for logistical and security reasons.