Experts: Cuba shipment explanation credible
HAVANA – North Korea on Wednesday repeated Cuba’s assertion that the antiquated weapons systems found on a cargo ship in Panama were headed to the Asian country for repair. But while the explanation is potentially credible, it leaves troubling questions unresolved, international arms experts say.
Acting on intelligence it hasn’t publicly described, Panama seized the rusting, 34-year-old North Korean freighter Chong Chon Gang on July 11 as it headed toward the Caribbean entrance of the Panama Canal on its way to the Pacific and its final destination of North Korea.
Hidden under about 240,000 white sacks of raw brown Cuban sugar, Panamanian officials found shipping containers with parts of a radar system for a surface-to-air missile-defense system, an apparent violation of U.N. sanctions that bar North Korea from importing sophisticated weapons or missiles.
The North Korean Foreign Ministry commented on the seizure for the first time Wednesday, saying: “This cargo is nothing but aging weapons which (North Korea) are to send back to Cuba after overhauling them according to a legitimate contract.”
A Foreign Ministry spokesman, who was not named by the official Korean Central News Agency, said “the Panamanian investigation authorities rashly attacked and detained the captain and crewmen of the ship on the plea of ‘drug investigation’ and searched its cargo but did not discover any drug.”
22 children die after eating free lunch
PATNA, India – The children started falling violently ill soon after they ate the free school lunch of rice, lentils, soybeans and potatoes.
The food, part of a program that gives poor Indian students at least one hot meal a day, was tainted with insecticide, and soon, 22 of the students were dead and dozens were hospitalized, officials said Wednesday.
It was not immediately clear how chemicals ended up in the food at the school in the eastern state of Bihar.
One official said that the food may not have been properly washed before it was cooked.
The children, between the ages of 5 and 12, got sick soon after eating lunch Tuesday in Gandamal village in Masrakh block, 50 miles north of the state capital of Patna. School authorities immediately stopped serving the meal as the children started vomiting.
Savita, a 12-year-old student who uses only one name, said she had a stomachache after eating soybeans and potatoes and started vomiting.
Queen approves gay marriage in Britain
LONDON – Britain on Wednesday legalized gay marriage after Queen Elizabeth II gave her royal stamp of approval, clearing the way for the first same-sex weddings next summer.
Lawmakers cheered as House of Commons Speaker John Bercow said royal assent had been given – one day after the bill to legalize same-sex marriage in England and Wales cleared Parliament.
The queen’s approval was a formality and is the last step necessary for a bill to become law.
The law enables gay couples to get married in both civil and religious ceremonies in England and Wales, although the Church of England is barred from conducting same-sex unions. It also will allow couples who had previously entered into civil partnerships – which carry similar rights and responsibilities to marriage – to convert their relationships to marriage.
Prime Minister David Cameron had backed it, but it divided his Conservative Party and touched off strident debates in the House of Commons and House of Lords.
Associated Press
