ARAB TIMES, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2015 17 INTERNATIONAL statement late Saturday saying it had formed a multi-agency group to address the committee’s demands in the allotted 90 days. It did not say what action it might take. Mexican human rights defenders made the committee’s decision public on Friday. They said it was the first time the commit- tee had issued a decision on an individual case in Mexico. (AP) ❑ ❑ ❑ Run-off likely in poll: The Argentinian ruling party’s candidate Daniel Scioli maintains a commanding lead in the presidential race but still lacks enough voter support to win out- right in the first round, a poll by the Poliarquia consultancy showed on Sunday. Scioli, a moderate Peronist from President Cristina Fernandez’s Front for Victory Party, has support from 37.1 per- cent of those who have decided how they are going to vote, according to the poll published in the daily La Nacion. His nearest rival Mauricio Macri, the center-right mayor of Buenos Aires city, trails with 26.2 percent, while Sergio Massa, who defected from the ruling party in 2013, has 20.1 percent ahead of the Oct. 25 ballot. Scioli owes much of his support base to Fernandez loyalists. While he has made new investment a pillar of his campaign platform he has given little away on how far he would unwind state controls in the economy. That has limited his appeal to voters weary of capital controls, import restric- tions, rampant inflation. Some polls show a united opposition would win a second round. Macri promises swift reforms to open up markets in Latin America’s third biggest economy but many voters worry he would return Argentina to the neo-liber- al policies of the 1990s that led to a devas- tating economic depression. To win outright in the first round a can- didate requires 45 percent of valid votes or 40 percent and a 10-point lead over their nearest rival. “Scioli is near the 40 percent threshold but there is no certainty he will reach it,” said Eduardo Fidanza, director of Poliarquia. The pollster said that if undecided votes were taken into account Scioli would poll between 38.5 and 41 percent, Macri between 27.5 and 30 percent and Massa 21 to 23.5 percent. (RTRS) ❑ ❑ ❑ Probe into killing in bar: Puerto Rico police say three men have been killed and four other people wounded in a San Juan bar shooting. Sgt Omayra Arnaldi Velez says about 20 people were inside the El Regreso bar in the Hato Rey district when the shooting took place at about 2:24 am Sunday. She says police have not yet established a motive or identified the three dead, who were men between the ages of 20 and 30. One of them had a gun. The wounded include three men and a woman who were in stable condition at a hospital. Police say it’s the seventh time this year three or more people have been killed in a shooting in Puerto Rico. (AP) ❑ ❑ ❑ Govt orders bank’s liquidation: One of Honduras’ most powerful busi- nessmen is trying to calm clients after the government announced it would force the immediate liquidation of his family’s bank. Jaime Rosenthal is accused by US pros- ecutors of money laundering. He said Sunday that his family will honor all of its financial commitments, especially those of their Banco Continental. Rosenthal’s son, nephew and a com- pany lawyer were also named in a feder- al indictment last week and nephew Yankel Rosenthal was arrested in Miami. US prosecutors say the family has used its businesses to launder money for multiple Central American drug traffickers. The family denies all of the allegations. The Honduran government said Friday it would soon name someone to take over bank’s operations. The Rosenthals have asked that bank be allowed to voluntarily liquidate. (AP) Lat/Am Africa Some students killed elsewhere: While Mexican prosecutors declared last year that 43 missing students were incin- erated at a landfill, official documents published Sunday show that one gang sus- pect testified that at least nine were slaughtered elsewhere. Mexico’s attorney general office posted on its website the 54,000 pages of doc- uments from the much-criticized investigation into a case that has bedev- illed President Enrique Pena Nieto’s administra- tion. A review by AFP of hundreds of pages found contradictory testimony among some of the more than 100 suspects who have been detained, including Guerreros Unidos drug cartel members and munici- pal police officers. The report — divided into 85 tomes and 13 annexes with several redacted names and paragraphs — was made pub- lic by Attorney General Arely Gomez fol- lowing freedom of information requests from journalists. It is rare for Mexican authorities to make investigative documents public online. Gomez’s predecessor, Jesus Murillo Karam, concluded late last year that police in the southern city of Iguala attacked the students on September 26, 2014, after they had seized buses for a protest in Mexico City. Murillo Karam said the officers abducted 43 students and handed them over to the Guerreros Unidos drug gang, which confused them with rivals, killed them and incinerated their bodies at a garbage dump in the neighboring town of Cocula. But parents of the students have never accepted the official conclusion. Last month, independent experts from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights tore apart the official investigation. They said there was no scientific evidence that the 43 students were burned to ashes at the landfill. (AFP) ❑ ❑ ❑ Mexico forms group: The Mexican government says it’s working to address findings by a UN committee that its sol- diers tortured four men accused of kidnap- ping in Baja California. The UN Committee Against Torture called for immediate release of the men arrested in 2009. It also demanded an investigation into who was responsible for the torture, their prosecution and reparations to the vic- tims. The Mexican government issued a Rebels, peacekeepers clash: French and UN troops halted a rebel march towards the capital of Central African Republic this week, clashing with mostly Muslim fighters about 180 km (110 miles) northeast of Bangui, a govern- ment spokesman said. Central African Republic’s President is Catherine Samba Panza. Dominique Said Paguindji and resi- dents said the troops fought the Seleka rebels on Saturday in the town of Sibut after an ultimatum for them to halt their march southwards expired. It was not imme- diately clear if there were any dead or wounded during the clashes. The former French colony has been torn by bloodshed since 2013 and interim author- ities are struggling to disarm militias ahead of elections scheduled for Oct 18. (RTRS) ❑ ❑ ❑ ‘Want SA to pull out of ICC’: South Africa’s ruling party said on Sunday it wanted the country to withdraw from the International Criminal Court, saying the court has lost direction and no longer ful- filled its mandate. The decision comes after a spat with The Hague-based court over South Africa’s failure to arrest Sudanese leader Omar al-Bashir when he arrived in the country in June to attend an African Union summit. “The National General Council has just resolved that South Africa should withdraw from the international court. However, only after we have followed certain processes,” said Obed Bapela, who heads the ANC party’s international relations commission. The resolution came out of an ANC policy meeting where leaders are review- ing the party’s policies ahead of the coun- try’s municipal elections in 2016. (AFP) ❑ ❑ ❑ Opposition alleges fraud in vote: Guinea’s main opposition party says fraud was widespread in the country’s presiden- tial vote that saw millions head to the polls Sunday. The Union for the Democratic Forces of Guinea party said in a statement late Sunday that ballot boxes were stuffed by members of the government, soldiers voted by proxy at several voting stations and security forces expelled vote counters at others. The party of main opposition candidate Cellou Dalein Diallo said he and other candidates would later hold a press conference on the vote. President Alpha Conde faced seven other candidates. Some stations remained open late because of late or insufficient voting materials. Others said their votes ran smoothly. (AP) Scioli Nieto Panza Cristina A woman places flowers on a coffin during a protest against violence in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on Oct 11. Brazil reached a new peak of violence last year with more than 58,000 violent deaths, a watchdog group said Thursday. Violence has long plagued Brazil but the country’s security problems are now in the spotlight as Rio de Janeiro gears up to host next year’s Olympic games. (AP)