NightBlogger

Source: The Guardian
In a submission to the UN in May, the Pentagon said that no more than eight youths, aged 13 to 17 at time of capture, were held at Guantánamo Bay. But a prisoner list released in 2006 in response to US freedom of information act litigation names 21 inmates under 18 when they arrived. A separate defence department admission brings the total to 22. Testimonies collected by the charity Reprieve, which represents 30 inmates at Guantánamo, indicate the actual number is much higher.

Guantánamo’s child prisoners came from all over the world: they were Afghan, Yemeni, Saudi, Russian, Uighuri, and Canadian. Five of them are still there. They are: Mohammed el Gharani, aged 14-15 when he was seized while praying in a Karachi mosque; Hassan bin Attash, aged 16-17 when seized in Pakistan, and rendered to Jordan where he endured 16 months of torture before being transferred; Faris Muslim Al Ansari, an Afghan-Yemeni who was 17 when captured; Mohamed Jawad, an Afghan who was 17 when seized and faces trial by military commission; and Omar Khadr. Saudi citizen Yasser Talal Al Zahrani, 17 when captured, joined a prison-wide hunger strike in 2005. He was found dead in his cell in June 2006 after apparently killing himself.

Saudi amphetamine seizures increase to 28% of world total
Seizures of amphetamines have risen sharply in Saudi Arabia, suggesting a surge in consumption of the illegal stimulant in the kingdom, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) reported yesterday. Saudi Arabia accounted for 28 per cent of all global amphetamine seizures in 2006, the latest year for which data are available, according to the UNODC’s annual report. The quantities impounded in the kingdom started to rise sharply in 2004 and reached 12.3 tonnes in 2006. “This is equivalent to the sum of all UK seizures - the biggest amphetamine market in Europe - from 2000 to 2006,” the report said. A further two tonnes of amphetamines destined for Saudi Arabia were seized in neighbouring Oman. More

Oil prices have risen after emergency talks among the world’s top oil powers and leading consuming nations over the weekend ended with no real resolution. US sweet, light crude for August delivery increased by $2.46 to $137.08 a barrel, while London Brent crude rose $1.03 to $135.89 a barrel. The rises came despite Saudi Arabia’s promise to increase daily output by an extra 200,000 barrels a day from July. More