In Brief

Obama scrapping missile shields
PRAGUE – President Barack Obama has decided to scrap plans for a US missile defence shield in the Czech Republic and Poland that had deeply angered Russia, the Czech prime minister confirmed yesterday.

Greenpeace: new evidence in IC disaster AMSTERDAM – Greenpeace says it has uncovered new evidence linking an oil trading company to toxic waste that killed 15 people in Ivory Coast in 2006, and is asking Dutch prosecutors to reconsider charging executives with illegal dumping.Israel says Mideast not ready for arms ban JERUSALEM – Israel’s defence minister said in remarks published yesterday that the Middle East is too unruly for a region-wide nuclear arms ban, arguing that the Muslim world must first ‘behave like Western Europe.’Gunmen kill 10 at Mexico drug treatment centre CIUDAD JUAREZ – Gunmen burst into a drug treatment centre in the northern Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez and shot to death 10 people, the second such mass killing this month.Prison guards demand right to complain online CANBERRA – A group of prison guards dubbed the Facebook Five has gone to an Australian court to fight for the right to complain about their boss on the Internet. East Timor probes legality of militant’s release DILI – East Timor’s Supreme Court is investigating top government officials over accusations they illegally released a war crimes suspect at Indonesia’s request – a case that could test the constitution of Asia’s youngest democracy.US closes largest detention camp in IraqCAMP BUCCA – The US military on Wednesday closed Camp Bucca, an isolated desert prison that was once its largest lockup in Iraq, as it moves to release thousands of detainees or transfer them to Iraqi custody before the end of the year.