TORONTO
Pact OK’d to speed elimination of CFCs
Governments of almost 200 countries have agreed to speed the elimination of a major greenhouse gas that depletes ozone, U.N. and Canadian officials said Saturday, describing a deal they said was a significant step toward fighting global warming.
The agreement reached Friday night will accelerate a treaty to freeze and phase out hydrochlorofluorocarbons, which are used in home appliances, some refrigerators, hairsprays and air conditioners, said Nick Nuttall, spokesman for the United Nations Environment Program.
The treaty, known as the Montreal Protocol, was originally established in the Canadian city in 1987 to protect the ozone layer from destructive chemicals. It was negotiated by 191 countries to cut back on chemicals blamed for destroying the ozone layer.
The final agreement is a combination of proposals by a number of countries, including the United States.
LIMA, Peru
Iron-fisted ex-ruler returns under guard
Former President Alberto Fujimori returned Saturday to Peru under heavy guard on a police airplane after an extradition order from Chile. He was immediately incarcerated at a police base as dozens of his supporters blocked traffic in protest.
Chile’s Supreme Court on Friday sent Fujimori home to face charges that he organized a death squad that killed 25 people, bribed congressmen and journalists to gain their support, kidnapped critics of his regime and bought the silence of Vladimiro Montesinos, his chief political and military adviser, with $15 million of taxpayer money.
The man who ruled Peru with an iron fist for 10 years beginning in 1990 is facing a potential life sentence in prison.
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan
Opposition leaders jailed ahead of vote
Police swept the Pakistani capital Saturday to arrest the leaders of opposition parties vowing to obstruct President Gen. Pervez Musharraf’s re-election bid, officials said.
Security officials said police had orders to take some 35 opposition leaders into preventive custody – many of them linked to the prime minister overthrown by Musharraf or a coalition of Islamist parties opposed to the president’s alliance with the United States.
