UPI NewsTrack TopNews

• Tweet

Former teen insurgent back in Canada

TORONTO, Sept. 29 (UPI) -- Omar Khadr, captured as a teenager in Afghanistan, was transferred to Canadian custody Saturday from Guantanamo Bay, officials said.

Khadr was the only Canadian inmate in the U.S. detention center in Cuba. Until recently, the government of Canada had refused to demand his repatriation, The New York Times reported.

Public Safety Minister Vic Toews, in a statement, suggested Khadr cannot expect immediate release. He pleaded guilty to throwing a grenade that killed a U.S. soldier in a firefight and other terrorism-related crimes.

"Omar Khadr is a known supporter of the al-Qaida terrorist network and a convicted terrorist," Toews said. "I am satisfied the Correctional Service of Canada can administer Omar Khadr's sentence in a manner which recognizes the serious nature of the crimes that he has committed and ensure the safety of Canadians is protected during incarceration."

Khadr was immediately transferred to a maximum-security prison in Bath, Ontario, after his plane landed at a military base, CTV reported.

The Toronto native is from a militant family. His father, who emigrated to Canada from Egypt, was killed in Afghanistan after his arrest and another brother was paralyzed in the same fight.

Khadr's supporters describe him as a child soldier, the Times said. He was only 15 and had been badly wounded when he was taken into custody in 2002.

N. Korea disputes sea border

SEOUL, Sept. 29 (UPI) -- The North Korean government charged Saturday that South Korea is trying to enforce an illegal border in the Yellow Sea.

The Korean Central News Agency, an official arm of the government of North Korea, accused the South of "reckless military provocations that have created a touch-and-go situation in the West Sea of Korea," Yonhap News Agency reported. KCNA was referring to an incident Sept. 21 when South Korean naval vessels fired warning shots after North Korean fishing boats crossed the line drawn by U.N. forces at the end of the Korean War.

A spokesman for the North Korean National Defense Commission called the border "an illegal ghost-like line." The North does not recognize the sea border, and there have been a number of clashes along it.

Gen. Jung Seung-Jo, chairman of the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the military is ready to respond if North Korea uses military force.

"Our military has drastically bolstered its capabilities and readiness to sternly punish enemy provocations with teeth-gritting determination," Jung said. "We have to be thoroughly prepared to get our system to work perfectly in case of enemy provocations."

Suspected superintendent killer charged

HARRISONBURG, Va., Sept. 29 (UPI) -- A Virginia man accused of driving to New York and killing a man he believed was his wife's lover faced a second-degree murder charge Saturday, authorities said.

Chautauqua County (N.Y.) Sheriff Joseph Gerace said a handgun investigators found in Anthony Robert Taglianetti II's car may have been used to kill Clymer School Superintendent Keith L. Reed Jr. last week. Gerace said forensic tests were being done on the gun.

Taglianetti was arrested Friday afternoon near Shenandoah Valley National Park in Virginia, where authorities believe he had been camping the past several days, The Buffalo News reported.

Along with the gun, investigators found printed copies of emails between Taglianetti's wife and Reed, including one described as "intimate," in the car, a law enforcement source told the News.

Taglianetti, a 42-year-old ex-Marine and married father of four from Woodbridge, allegedly thought Reed was having an affair with his wife Mary Jenks Taglianetti, who has ties to Saratoga County, N.Y.

Reed had met Taglianetti's wife online, possibly while estranged from Taglianetti, the News said.

Authorities believe Reed, a divorced father of three daughters was killed Sept. 21. His body was found three days later in a grassy area of his property.

Ashrawi: U.N. will back Palestine state

RAMALLAH, West Bank, Sept. 29 (UPI) -- A Palestinian leader predicted Saturday at least 150 U.N. member states will support an application for statehood by the Palestinian Authority.

Hanan Ashrawi said she expects many countries to resist "American and Israeli pressure," The Jerusalem Post reported. She said the vote by the 193 member states will take place on Nov. 29, the 65th anniversary of the United Nations vote to partition Palestine into two states.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas addressed the U.N. General Assembly Friday. In his speech, he made no mention of Palestinian statehood, and Ashrawi suggested that was in response to U.S. pressure.

Ashrawi is a longtime member of the Palestinian Liberation Organization and a member of the authority parliament.