Marine 'hostage' accused of desertion
WASHINGTON, Dec. 9 (UPI) -- The U.S. military will file desertion charges against a Marine who disappeared in Iraq and then showed up in a purported hostage video, CNN reported.
Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun, who later appeared as a free man in Lebanon, will also be charged by the Marine Corps with larceny and wrongful disposition of military property, Pentagon officials told CNN.
The larceny charge stems from the disappearance of a 9 mm handgun that disappeared with him and never turned up, officials said.
When Hassoun last spoke with military investigators in September, he refused to divulge details of the events surrounding his disappearance, the report said.
The 24-year-old from West Jordan, Utah, will not be held in custody, because he is not considered a flight risk, officials said. He is currently at his home base in Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.
U.N.: Iraq vote on track for next month
UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 9 (UPI) -- Iraq's national elections, scheduled at the end of next month, are on track, chief U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said Thursday.
The term of the country's independent electoral commission has been extended until next Wednesday - the same date as the registration deadline for candidates.
"So far, some 241 entities - comprising more than 5,000 candidates - have registered. None have been rejected," Eckhard said.
Some 6,000 Iraqi electoral workers have been trained either "at locations outside of Iraq" or by following courses the world organization developed and provided for them, and 85 per cent of the registration centers were already operating. The United Nations has been advising the commission.
Nineteen U.N. electoral staff members were in the country, concentrated in Baghdad's international zone, but the number was expected to rise to 25, said Eckhard.
Ghana president re-elected
ACCRA, Ghana, Dec. 9 (UPI) -- Ghana's election commission Thursday announced President John Kufuor had won a second four-year term, securing 52.75 percent of the votes. His main rival, opposition leader John Atta Mills, got 44.32 percent of the vote in the Tuesday election.
Kufuor's outright majority eliminates the need for a second round, the BBC reported.
Observers praised the conduct of the election, which attracted a high turnout rate of 83.2 percent, the report said.
Kufuor defeated Mills four years ago, marking the country's first peaceful and democratic transfer of power since independence from Britain in 1957, the BBC report said.
The president and his New Patriotic Party drastically reduced inflation and borrowing costs, and assured people during the campaign that prices and wages would improve.
Ecuador judges won't leave after firing
QUITO, Ecuador, Dec. 9 (UPI) -- Ecuador's Supreme Court judges Thursday locked themselves in their Quito chambers to protest their firings.
All 31 judges were fired for having an alleged bias against President Lucio Gutierrez, El Comercio said on its Web site.
Gutierrez maintained the justices were aligned with the opposition Social Christian Party, which recently tried and failed to hold impeachment hearings against him.
The head of Ecuador's highest court, Hugo Quintana, launched the protest when he refused to leave his office and his fellow judges followed suit.
Ecuador's opposition maintained the firings were unconstitutional and pledged to back the judges in their protest.
