Prosecutor seeks Sudan genocide charges
THE HAGUE, Netherlands, July 14 (UPI) -- Sudanese President Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir was accused of genocide and crimes against humanity Monday by the International Criminal Court prosecutor.
ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo presented evidence to the court at The Hague accusing Bashir of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in the Darfur region, the ICC said in a news release.
It was the first time an ICC prosecutor tried to make a case for a sitting head of state, the ICC said. the three-judge panel is expected to deliberate at least six weeks before deciding whether to indict the president.
For more than five years, armed forces and militia attacked villages in Darfur and pursued survivors into the desert, Moreno-Obampo said.
By denying the crimes occurred, Bashir "promoted and provided impunity to his subordinates in order to secure their willingness to commit genocide," the prosecutor said. Bashir "organized the destitution, insecurity and harassment of the survivors. He did not need bullets. He used other weapons: rapes, hunger, and fear. As efficient, but silent.
Thousands of people rallied Sunday in Khartoum in support for Bashir.
Sudan's representative at the United Nations told the BBC any charges brought against Bashir would harm the country's prospects for security and stability and threatened possible retaliation.
British terrorist case sees guilty pleas
LONDON, July 14 (UPI) -- Three men accused of planning a series of suicide missions on transatlantic flights pleaded guilty Monday in a British court.
Abdulla Ahmed Ali, 27, Assad Sarwar, 28, and Tanvir Hussain, 27, pleaded guilty to conspiring to cause the explosions and conspiring to cause a public nuisance by distributing videotapes threatening suicide attacks in Britain, The Times of London reported. Two other co-defendants, Ibrahim Savant, 27, and Umar Islam, 30, also pleaded guilty to causing a public nuisance.
The five men, plus three others, still will go to trial on a charge of conspiring to murder thousands of people in a series of terrorist explosions aboard transatlantic planes using homemade liquid bombs, the Times said.
Prosecutors allege the men planned to detonate the bombs -- disguised as soft drinks -- on passenger jets flying from London Heathrow Airport to North American cities, the BBC reported.
In summing up the prosecution's case, Peter Wright told the Woolwich Crown Court the eight men had wanted to "achieve immortality and notoriety in equal measure."
Bush to lift symbolic oil drilling ban
WASHINGTON, July 14 (UPI) -- The White House said Monday President Bush is prepared to lift an executive ban on off-shore drilling.
President Bush will announce the move 1:30 p.m. in the Rose Garden, but the gesture is seen as symbolic, since federal and state laws prevent offshore drilling, CNN reported.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has introduced a bill to open territorial waters 50 miles offshore to exploration and has begun negotiating with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., on the issue, the Post reported.
Americans "are saying loud and clear" they favor oil exploration to reduce the price of gasoline, McConnell said.
Presumptive presidential candidates Sens. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and John McCain, R-Ariz., are split on the issue. Obama is holding to his claim that further offshore drilling won't reduce the price of gasoline.
McCain reversed his earlier position and favors the proposal, saying last month "we have untapped oil reserves of at least 21 billion barrels of oil in the United States."
The U.S. Geological Survey estimates there are "conventionally recoverable resources" of about 17.8 billion barrels that have yet to be discovered, the Post reported.
Regulators are watching banks on the brink
WASHINGTON, July 14 (UPI) -- U.S. regulators and investors are keeping an eye on a list of U.S. banks that could be on the brink of collapse, financial analysts said.
The focus on banks sharpened Friday after regulators seized control of California lender IndyMac Bank, a spinoff of Countrywide Financial Corp. worth $32 billion, The New York Times reported.
The U.S. Treasury Department also announced a plan Sunday to extend $300 billion in credit to the Federal Loan Mortgage Corp. and the Federal National Mortgage Association, two huge lenders that could default on $1.3 trillion in securities owned by various banks.
"Everybody is drawing up lists, trying to figure out who the next bank is, No. 1; and No. 2, how many of them are there," Richard Bove, a banking analyst with Ladenburg Thalmann, told the Times.
Estimates of 150 banks nearing failure fall short of the banking crisis of the early 1990s, when more than 1,000 failed costing taxpayers about $125 billion, the Times reported.
Six banks have failed this year with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., worried about 90 as of this spring, the Times reported.
Bermuda feels first of Bertha's winds
MIAMI, July 14 (UPI) -- Bermuda began feeling the first of Tropical Storm Bertha's winds Monday as the storm inched toward the island from the southeast with 65 mph winds.
Forecasters at the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said they expected the center of the storm to pass just east of the island Monday.
At 11 a.m., Bertha was 60 miles east-southeast of Bermuda, moving north near 7 mph, and tropical storm force winds with gusts up to 75 mph extend up to 140 miles from the storm center, forecasters said.
Bermuda officials upgraded a tropical storm watch to a warning and said as much as 5 inches of rain could fall in the next two days, during which time little change in Bertha's strength was expected.
Heavy waves began hitting the shores Friday and have increased as Bertha approached.
"Dangerous rip currents are also occurring along the U.S. East Coast from the Carolinas through southern New England," the forecasters said.
