ARAB TIMES, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2015

17INTERNATIONAL

statement late Saturday saying it hadformed a multi-agency group to addressthe committee’s demands in the allotted90 days. It did not say what action itmight take.

Mexican human rights defenders madethe committee’s decision public on Friday.They said it was the first time the commit-tee had issued a decision on an individualcase in Mexico. (AP)

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Run-off likely in poll: TheArgentinian ruling party’s candidateDaniel Scioli maintains a commandinglead in the presidential race but stilllacks enough voter support to win out-right in the first round, a poll by thePoliarquia consultancy showed onSunday.

Scioli, a moderate Peronist fromPresident Cristina Fernandez’s Front forVictory Party, has support from 37.1 per-cent of those who have decided how theyare going to vote, according to the pollpublished in the daily La Nacion.

His nearest rival Mauricio Macri, thecenter-right mayor of Buenos Aires city,trails with 26.2 percent, while SergioMassa, who defected from the ruling partyin 2013, has 20.1 percent ahead of the Oct.

25 ballot.Scioli owes much of his support base to

Fernandez loyalists. While he has madenew investment a pillar of his campaignplatform he has given little away on howfar he would unwind state controls in theeconomy.

That has limited his appeal to votersweary of capital controls, import restric-tions, rampant inflation. Some polls showa united opposition would win a secondround.

Macri promises swift reforms to openup markets in Latin America’s thirdbiggest economy but many voters worryhe would return Argentina to the neo-liber-al policies of the 1990s that led to a devas-

tating economic depression.To win outright in the first round a can-

didate requires 45 percent of valid votes or40 percent and a 10-point lead over theirnearest rival.

“Scioli is near the 40 percent thresholdbut there is no certainty he will reach it,”said Eduardo Fidanza, director ofPoliarquia.

The pollster said that if undecided voteswere taken into account Scioli would pollbetween 38.5 and 41 percent, Macribetween 27.5 and 30 percent and Massa 21to 23.5 percent. (RTRS)

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Probe into killing in bar: PuertoRico police say three men have been killedand four other people wounded in a SanJuan bar shooting.

Sgt Omayra Arnaldi Velez says about20 people were inside the El Regresobar in the Hato Rey district when theshooting took place at about 2:24 amSunday.

She says police have not yet establisheda motive or identified the three dead, whowere men between the ages of 20 and 30.One of them had a gun.

The wounded include three men and awoman who were in stable condition at a

hospital.Police say it’s the seventh time this year

three or more people have been killed in ashooting in Puerto Rico. (AP)

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Govt orders bank’s liquidation:One of Honduras’ most powerful busi-nessmen is trying to calm clients after thegovernment announced it would force theimmediate liquidation of his family’sbank.

Jaime Rosenthal is accused by US pros-ecutors of money laundering. He saidSunday that his family will honor all of itsfinancial commitments, especially those oftheir Banco Continental.

Rosenthal’s son, nephew and a com-pany lawyer were also named in a feder-al indictment last week and nephewYankel Rosenthal was arrested inMiami. US prosecutors say the familyhas used its businesses to laundermoney for multiple Central Americandrug traffickers.

The family denies all of the allegations.The Honduran government said Friday

it would soon name someone to take overbank’s operations. The Rosenthals haveasked that bank be allowed to voluntarilyliquidate. (AP)

Lat/Am Africa

Some students killed elsewhere:While Mexican prosecutors declared lastyear that 43 missing students were incin-erated at a landfill, official documentspublished Sunday show that one gang sus-pect testified that at least nine wereslaughtered elsewhere.

Mexico’s attorney general office postedon its website the54,000 pages of doc-uments from themuch-criticizedinvestigation into acase that has bedev-illed PresidentEnrique PenaNieto’s administra-tion.

A review by AFPof hundreds of pagesfound contradictorytestimony among

some of the more than 100 suspects whohave been detained, including GuerrerosUnidos drug cartel members and munici-pal police officers.

The report — divided into 85 tomesand 13 annexes with several redactednames and paragraphs — was made pub-lic by Attorney General Arely Gomez fol-lowing freedom of information requestsfrom journalists.

It is rare for Mexican authorities tomake investigative documents publiconline.

Gomez’s predecessor, Jesus MurilloKaram, concluded late last year thatpolice in the southern city of Igualaattacked the students on September 26,2014, after they had seized buses for aprotest in Mexico City.

Murillo Karam said the officersabducted 43 students and handed themover to the Guerreros Unidos drug gang,which confused them with rivals, killedthem and incinerated their bodies at agarbage dump in the neighboring town ofCocula.

But parents of the students have neveraccepted the official conclusion.

Last month, independent experts fromthe Inter-American Commission onHuman Rights tore apart the officialinvestigation. They said there was noscientific evidence that the 43 studentswere burned to ashes at the landfill.(AFP)

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Mexico forms group: The Mexicangovernment says it’s working to addressfindings by a UN committee that its sol-diers tortured four men accused of kidnap-ping in Baja California.

The UN Committee Against Torturecalled for immediate release of the menarrested in 2009.

It also demanded an investigation intowho was responsible for the torture, theirprosecution and reparations to the vic-tims.

The Mexican government issued a

Rebels, peacekeepers clash:French and UN troops halted a rebelmarch towards the capital of CentralAfrican Republic this week, clashing withmostly Muslim fighters about 180 km(110 miles) northeast of Bangui, a govern-ment spokesman said. Central AfricanRepublic’s President is Catherine SambaPanza.

Dominique SaidPaguindji and resi-dents said the troopsfought the Selekarebels on Saturdayin the town of Sibutafter an ultimatumfor them to halt theirmarch southwardsexpired.

It was not imme-diately clear if therewere any dead orwounded during the clashes.

The former French colony has been tornby bloodshed since 2013 and interim author-ities are struggling to disarm militias aheadof elections scheduled for Oct 18. (RTRS)

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‘Want SA to pull out of ICC’: SouthAfrica’s ruling party said on Sunday itwanted the country to withdraw from theInternational Criminal Court, saying thecourt has lost direction and no longer ful-filled its mandate.

The decision comes after a spat withThe Hague-based court over SouthAfrica’s failure to arrest Sudanese leaderOmar al-Bashir when he arrived in thecountry in June to attend an AfricanUnion summit.

“The National General Council has justresolved that South Africa should withdrawfrom the international court. However, onlyafter we have followed certain processes,”said Obed Bapela, who heads the ANCparty’s international relations commission.

The resolution came out of an ANCpolicy meeting where leaders are review-ing the party’s policies ahead of the coun-try’s municipal elections in 2016. (AFP)

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Opposition alleges fraud in vote:Guinea’s main opposition party says fraudwas widespread in the country’s presiden-tial vote that saw millions head to thepolls Sunday.

The Union for the Democratic Forces ofGuinea party said in a statement late Sundaythat ballot boxes were stuffed by membersof the government, soldiers voted by proxyat several voting stations and security forcesexpelled vote counters at others. The partyof main opposition candidate Cellou DaleinDiallo said he and other candidates wouldlater hold a press conference on the vote.

President Alpha Conde faced sevenother candidates. Some stations remainedopen late because of late or insufficientvoting materials. Others said their votesran smoothly. (AP)Scioli

Nieto Panza

Cristina

A woman places flowers on a coffin during a protest against violence in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on Oct 11. Brazil reached a new peak of violence last year withmore than 58,000 violent deaths, a watchdog group said Thursday. Violence has long plagued Brazil but the country’s security problems are now in the

spotlight as Rio de Janeiro gears up to host next year’s Olympic games. (AP)