Torture claim Gitmo detainee back in UK

A British resident released after four years at Guantanamo Bay arrived back in the UK Monday, officials said, in a case that has helped deepen controversy over U.S. treatment of accused terrorists. Binyam Mohamed, seized in Pakistan in 2002 on suspicion of terrorism, returned after being freed in a deal between the British and U.S

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Israel demands release of missing soldier

Israel on Wednesday demanded the release of an Israeli soldier seized by militants more than two years ago as a condition of lifting its economic blockade on Gaza, a government spokesman said. Gaza’s Hamas leadership rejected the decision by Israel’s Security Cabinet to link the release of Gilad Shalit to the lifting of the blockade.

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Israel denies reports of Hamas negotiations

Israel’s prime minister denied media reports that it is negotiating with the militant group Hamas, which controls Gaza, but said there will be Israeli "consultations" Sunday "regarding the situation in the south." “Should a decision of any kind be required, it will be made only via a meeting of the Security Cabinet and after taking into account all of the new political circumstances that have been created in the wake of the recent Israeli elections,” Yanki Galanti, the media adviser for Ehud Olmert, said Saturday night in a statement. The consultations are to take place among Olmert, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni. Israel held elections Tuesday which resulted in a near-tie between Livni’s centrist Kadima party and the right-wing Likud party, led by Benjamin Netanyahu.

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Pakistan unsure over identity of man beheaded in Taliban video

Pakistani authorities have not confirmed that a kidnapped Polish engineer is the man that was beheaded on a Taliban video, despite assertions from Polish officials that they are certain the man is Piotr Stanczak. “We want to be absolutely sure,” said Abdual Basit, a spokesman for Pakistan’s foreign office

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Olmert blasts ‘damaging’ reports on kidnapped Israeli soldier

Recent media reports about the negotiations to secure the release of a kidnapped Israeli soldier are "exaggerated and damaging," outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Sunday. “This complex and sensitive process requires due caution regarding all that is said,” Olmert said at the start of his weekly Cabinet session

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