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Child abduction suspects in court

N’DJAMENA, Chad (CNN) — Eleven of those accused in an alleged international kidnapping of African children were brought to court Saturday in the Chadian capital, appearing somber as they were led into a courthouse under armed guard.

The pre-trial hearing was conducted amid tight security as the accused made their first appearance at the Chadian Supreme Court.

Eric Breteau, leader of Zoe’s Ark, the French charity at the center of the case, was among those attending court. Also appearing were four Spanish flight attendants, still wearing their red flight uniforms, who were part of a plane crew involved in the alleged kidnap attempt.

A total of 21 people — 17 Europeans and four Chadians — were arrested in the eastern city of Abeche, close to the border with Sudan’s war-torn Darfur region, last week as they attempted to load 103 children onto a plane to fly them to Paris.

They were flown to N’Djamena Friday after the case was transferred there, a spokesman for Chad’s government said.

Zoe’s Ark has said the children were orphans from Darfur and the group was taking them to host families in France. However, aid agencies have said most of the children are probably not orphans and not from Sudan, but instead come from villages in Chad.

Wearing blue caps, military police called Quick! Quick! and Let’s go! as they led the 11 people from the rear of a van on the grounds of the courthouse Saturday. At the gates of the court compound, a handful of Chadians gathered to watch.

However, there were no details of what was being discussed at Saturday’s private hearing.

During a break in the proceedings, Breteau appeared downcast as he made a trip to the bathroom. He refused to answer journalists’ questions and was later seen smoking a cigarette at a courthouse window.

Six Zoe’s Ark members have already been charged with kidnapping. Three French journalists who were on the trip and a flight crew of seven Spaniards and a Belgian are charged with complicity, along with the four Chadians.

The children are staying in an Abeche orphanage while aid agencies and government officials try to figure out where they came from, but the agencies have said the investigation is challenging because of the number of children, their young ages, and the volatile situation in the region. Red Cross spokeswoman Inah Kaloga told CNN Friday that some of the children may never return to their families because it is too difficult to determine their backgrounds.

Chad’s president has expressed hope that the journalists and flight crew can be released, and a jurisdictional shift in the case, as happened Friday, gives the president the legal opportunity to intervene on their behalf, according to the president’s chief of staff, Mahamat Hissene.

The Spanish government sent an ambassador to Chad to press for the flight crew’s release, and the international press freedom group Reporters Without Borders said it will ask for charges against the journalists to be dropped. Attorneys for the charity workers have said their clients are innocent.

In a joint statement issued Thursday, the Red Cross, U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and UNICEF said most of the children were living with their families and at least one parent before Zoe’s Ark took them to Abeche. The UNHCR has said the oldest child in the group is around 10, and most are between 3 and 5.
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Ronaldinho double gives Barca win

MADRID, Spain — Ronaldinho scored two trademark free-kicks as Barcelona beat Real Betis 3-0 to move within a point of leaders Real Madrid at the top of the Primera Liga table.

The Brazilian international, criticized for his poor form and excessive partying this season, curled in brilliant free-kicks in the 52nd and 90th minutes to cap a fine display.

Barcelona started with Ronaldinho, Thierry Henry and Lionel Messi in a three-pronged attack and Betis were soon chashing shadows.

Henry saw his 19th minute header well saved and minutes later the Frenchman watched on in agony as his fierce shot rebounded off the post.

A goal was on the cards and it duly arrived just after the half hour mark with Henry racing onto a slide rule pass from Andres Iniesta to poke the ball through the goalkeeper’s legs for his fifth goal of the season.

Betis had not won at Camp Nou since 1998 and when Ronaldinho scored his first free-kick it was just a case of keeping the score down.

Betis remain stranded in the bottom three and their Argentine manager Hector Cuper, who guided Valencia to Champions League finals in 2000 and 2001, remains under pressure.

Barcelona climb to second, level on points with Villarreal, who produced the comeback of the season to defeat Atletico Madrid in a 4-3 thriller.

Atletico had led at 2-0 and 3-2 but were left cursing defensive errors as Turkish substitute Nihat scored twice, including an 89th minute winner, to leave Atletico empty-handed.

Atletico stay fifth, five points behind city rivals Real, who were controversially beaten 2-0 at Sevilla on Saturday night.

Goals from Pablo Tebar and Portuguese winger Simao gave Atletico a two-goal lead after just 24 minutes but Giuseppe Rossi pulled one back six minutes later with a clever lob — his seventh goal since his big-money summer transfer from Manchester United.

Argentine Fabricio Fuentes equalised for the visitors and Atletico captain Maxi Rodriguez then missed a crucial penalty.

Argentine starlet Aguero put Atletico ahead but there was a twist in the tale with Nihat equalising and then scoring an 89th minute winner.

I never thought we would lose because my team were strong from the very first minute, said Villarreal coach Manuel Pellegrini.

We knew Atletico had some defensive weaknesses and that we could exploit that.

Elsewhere, promoted Levante recorded a much-needed first win of the season with a 3-0 thrashing of Murcia although they still prop up the 20-strong table.

Italian striker Christian Rigano bagged a sensational first half hat-trick for Levante — who had only collected one point from their previous 10 matches. E-mail to a friend

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Ajax defeat Roda to go back on top

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) — Ajax returned to the top of the Dutch league on Sunday with a 4-2 defeat of Roda.

They took the lead in the 22nd minute when Klaas-Jan Huntelaar headed in his 11th goal of the season.

Roland Lamah equalized for Roda in the 38th, but Ajax reclaimed the lead four minutes later with a powerful header from Luis Suarez.

Spanuard Albert Luque scored Ajax’s third goal in the 46th, but Anouar Hadouir reduced Ajax’s deficit to 3-2 in the 76th minute.

Huntelaar missed an 80th-minute penalty before Ajax substitute Dennis Rommedahl wrapped up the win in the final minute.

Feyenoord beat De Graafschap 2-0 with goals from Jonathan de Guzman and Roy Makaay.

Ajax and Feyenoord both have 24 points, but the Amsterdam club have a better goal differential. PSV Eindhoven are just a point behind in third place. E-mail to a friend

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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King Tut mummy on display for first time

LUXOR, Egypt (AP) — The linen wrapped mummy of King Tut was put on public display for the first time on Sunday — 85 years after the 3,000-year-old boy pharaoh’s golden enshrined tomb and mummy were discovered in Luxor’s famed Valley of the Kings.

Archeologists removed the mummy from his stone sarcophagus in his underground tomb, revealing his shriveled leather-like face and body.

The golden boy has magic and mystery and therefore every person all over the world will see what Egypt is doing to preserve the golden boy, and all of them I am sure will come to see the golden boy, Egypt’s antiquities chief Zahi Hawass told reporters under the intense Luxor sun.

Hawass said scientists began restoring King Tut’s badly damaged mummy more than two years ago after it was removed briefly from its sarcophagus and placed into a CT scanner for the first time for further examination. Much of the mummy’s body is broken into 18 pieces that Hawass described looked like stones that were damaged when British archaeologist Howard Carter discovered the mummy, took it from his tomb and tried to pull off his famous golden mask.

But Hawass said he fears a more recent phenomenon — mass tourism — is further deteriorating Tut’s mummy. Thousands of tourists visit the underground chamber every month. Watch the mummy be lifted from tomb and revealed

The humidity and heat caused by … people entering the tomb and their breathing will change the mummy to a powder. The only good thing (left) in this mummy is the face. We need to preserve the face, said Hawass, who wore his signature Indiana Jones-style tan hat.

The mystery surrounding King Tutankhamun and his glittering gold tomb has entranced ancient Egypt fans since Carter first discovered the hidden tomb on November 4, 1922, revealing a trove of fabulous gold and precious stone treasures.

Archeologists in recent years have tried to resolve lingering questions over how he died and his precise royal lineage. Several books and documentaries dedicated to the young pharaoh, who is believed to have been the 12th ruler of ancient Egypt’s 18th dynasty and ascended to the throne around the age of 8, are popular around the world.

In an effort to try to solve the mysteries, scientists removed Tut’s mummy from his tomb and placed it into a portable CT scanner for 15 minutes in 2005 to obtain a three-dimensional image. The scans were the first done on an Egyptian mummy.

The results did rule out that Tut was violently murdered — but stopped short of definitively concluding how he died around 1323 B.C. Experts for the time though suggested that days before dying, Tut badly broke his left thigh, apparently in an accident, that may have caused a fatal infection.

The CT scan also provided the most revealing insight yet into the life of ancient Egypt’s most famous king. He was well-fed, healthy, yet slightly built, standing at 5 feet, 6 inches tall at the time of his death. The scan also showed he had the typical overbite characteristic of other kings from his family, large incisor teeth and his lower teeth were slightly misaligned.

The unveiling of Tut’s mummy comes amid a frenzy of international publicity for the boy king. A highly publicized museum exhibit traveling the globe drew more than 4 million people during the initial four-city American-leg of the tour. The exhibit will open later this month in London and after it will make a three-city encore tour in the U.S. beginning with the Dallas Museum of Art.

The Egyptian tourism industry is hoping to capitalize on that interest and draw tourists to Luxor to see something they couldn’t at the museum — Tut’s mummy. More than 9 million tourists visited Egypt last year — up from 8.7 million the previous year, the Egyptian Tourist Authority said.

The tourists will begin viewing the mummy Monday, Hawass said. The mummy will remain in the tomb indefinitely — unlike other Egyptian royal mummies, who are displayed in museums.

Canadian tourist Bryan Wadson said he and his wife would try to make it back to the Valley of the Kings for the second time on Monday because they missed the mummy Sunday.

We’re running out of time, but will try, he said after taking a photo with Hawass.

But not every tourist was eager to find out that Tut will be removed from his sarcophagus and put on display.

I really think he should be left alone in quiet, in peace, said British tourist Bob Philpotts. This is his resting place, and he should be left (there).

John Taylor, an assistant keeper at the British Museum’s department of ancient Egypt and Sudan, said tourists won’t be the only ones to benefit by the display of Tut in a climate controlled case.

In some ways, it could be advantageous to monitor the condition to see if the mummy is stable, he said by telephone from London.

Hawass said experts will begin another project trying to determine the pharaoh’s precise royal lineage. It is unclear if he is the son or a half brother of Akhenaten, the heretic pharaoh who introduced a revolutionary form of monotheism to ancient Egypt and was the son of Amenhotep III.

Everyone is dreaming of what he looks like. The face of Tutankhamun is different from any king in the Cairo museum. With his beautiful buck teeth, the tourists will see a little bit of the smile from the face of the golden boy, Hawass said.
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Noel knocks out power to thousands in Massachusetts

CHATHAM, Massachusetts (CNN) — Hurricane force-winds and rain — the remnants of what was Hurricane Noel — disrupted power for thousands of people across eastern Massachusetts Saturday night, a power company reported.

About 33,000 of our 1.1 million customers are without power due to the storm, NSTAR, a Massachusetts-based utility company said Saturday night.

The customers without power were primarily on Cape Cod and in the south shore communities between Marshfield and Plymouth, the company said on its Web site, although it said it was addressing outages elsewhere in the state, including Boston.

CNN meteorologist Jacqui Jeras said parts of coastal Massachusetts, such as the island of Nantucket, were still experiencing high winds, including gusts of 60 to 70 mph.

However, she said, after midnight, we’ll see some dramatic improvements for Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Watch I-Report video from storm

CNN correspondent Jim Acosta, who was in Chatham, said New England residents were prepared for power outages and downed trees. There were some pretty serious concerns earlier today this was going to cause a lot of trouble for people here, he said, citing prior concerns about high winds and coastal flooding.

While there have been some reports of problems throughout the area, by and large this has just been a nasty…day outside, he said.

Noel emerged a week ago in the Caribbean Sea as a tropical storm before developing into a Category 1 hurricane four days later. Authorities blame then-Tropical Storm Noel for flooding and landslides that killed at least 64 people in the Dominican Republic and Haiti earlier this week. Some 37,500 people were forced from their homes. See photos of Noel’s destruction

On Friday, the Miami, Florida-based National Hurricane Center predicted the storm would lose its tropical characteristics as it moved into the cooler waters of the Atlantic Ocean. When the storm became extratropical, it would no longer be formally considered a hurricane, according to the hurricane center.

Extratropical storms differ from subtropical ones in various technical characteristics relating to temperature and winds.
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