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Gravestone of late Mayor Koch had birth date wrong

June 18, 2013 17:00
By Jonathan Allen NEW YORK (Reuters) - Former Mayor Ed Koch was 88 years old when he died in February, despite what his gravestone said. A worker at the Trinity Cemetery in Manhattan noticed last week that the gravestone's inscription shaved 18 years off the mayor's life after a stonecutter transposed two digits in his birth year, a Trinity spokeswoman said on Tuesday. The correct year of 1924 was mistakenly carved as 1942, she said.

Anarchist jailed for not testifying over 2008 New York blast

May 21, 2013 20:32
By Nate Raymond NEW YORK (Reuters) - A self-described anarchist from Brooklyn who refused to testify before a federal grand jury thought to be investigating a 2008 bomb explosion in New York's Times Square was sent to jail on Tuesday after being found in civil contempt. Gerald Koch, 24, had been asked last week to testify before a grand jury that his lawyer says is believed to be probing a small bomb detonation outside a U.S. armed forces recruiting station.

Argentina 'Dirty War' dictator Videla dies

Agence France-PresseMay 17, 2013 15:00
General Jorge Videla, Argentina's dictator at the height of its "Dirty War" against leftist activists, died Friday in prison while serving time for crimes against humanity. He was 87. Videla launched a ferocious crackdown on leftists and suspected supporters when he took power in 1976. As many as 30,000 people were kidnapped and "disappeared" by the military and suspected regime opponents were swept into secret prisons, tortured and murdered.

Chileans march to demand free, quality education

Agencia EFEMay 8, 2013 22:15
Santiago, May 8 (EFE).- Thousands of Chilean students and teachers marched in this capital on Wednesday to reassert their demand for overhaul of a partly privatized model of education that dates from the Pinochet dictatorship. The procession departed from the University of Santiago and made its way to Los Reyes park on the north side of the city. Associations representing college and secondary students and the Teachers Guild called the demonstration, their second major mobilization in less than a month.

Vatican said Pinochet killings were 'propaganda': US cable

April 8, 2013 08:16
The Vatican once dismissed reports of massacres by Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet as "Communist propaganda", according to declassified US diplomatic documents from the 1970s on Monday. One cable dated October 18, 1973 sent to Washington by the US embassy to the Holy See relayed a conversation with the Vatican's then deputy Secretary of State, Giovanni Benelli.

Vatican said Pinochet killings were 'propaganda'

April 8, 2013 06:31
The Vatican once dismissed reports of massacres by Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet as "Communist propaganda", according to US diplomatic and intelligence documents from the 1970s leaked on Monday. One cable dated October 18, 1973 sent to Washington by the US embassy to the Holy See relayed a conversation with the Vatican's then deputy Secretary of State, Giovanni Benelli, the leak by whistleblowing website WikiLeaks showed.

Documents show Brazilian junta financed Chile's Pinochet

March 5, 2013 18:18
Sao Paulo, Mar 5 (EFE).- Secret documents dating from Brazil's 1964-1985 military government reveal that the junta gave loans amounting to $115 million to the regime of Chilean dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet, Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper said Tuesday. The files indicate that the money was lent to Pinochet's government on "especially" favorable terms and was destined for the purchase of military equipment, the daily said. An Oct. 26, 1976, report marked "Secret" says that Brazil provided "important aid" to the Pinochet regime.

Argentine rights trial spotlights military abuses

March 5, 2013 18:17
Argentina's former military rulers went on trial here Tuesday for kidnappings and murders committed during a coordinated crackdown on dissent by South American military regimes. Former junta leaders Jorge Videla and Reynaldo Bignone joined 23 other people accused of crimes committed under the so-called Condor Plan, during the so-called "dirty war" of the 1970s and 1980s.

Argentine rights trial spotlights military abuses

March 5, 2013 14:30
Argentina's former military rulers went on trial here Tuesday for kidnappings and murders committed during a coordinated crackdown on dissent by South American military regimes. Former junta leaders Jorge Videla and Reynaldo Bignone joined 23 other people accused of crimes committed under the so-called Plan Condor, during the so-called "dirty war" of the 1970s and 1980s.

Chile cult leaders jailed for pedophilia

February 20, 2013 11:16
Four Germans and a Chilean have begun serving jail terms of up to 11 years for abusing children at a former secretive enclave of German settlers. Four of them reported Tuesday to a courthouse in Parral, 340 kilometers (210 miles) south of Santiago, as ordered by a judge. The fifth had to be arrested and was taken to prison early Wednesday. Late last month the Chilean Supreme Court upheld a 2004 verdict against these five former leaders of Colonia Dignidad, a cult-like community in southern Chile that was also used to hold political prisoners during the Pinochet dictatorship.
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