AROUND THE GLOBE
The Age
Wednesday March 31, 2010
MIDDLE EASTCall for arms sale reviewLONDON. A cross-party group of British MPs has called for a review of the way arms sales are approved after the government admitted British equipment was "almost certainly" used in Israel's Operation Cast Lead offensive on the Gaza Strip last year.The House of Commons committee on strategic export controls welcomed the government's subsequent decision to revoke five export licences for equipment destined for the Israeli navy, but said "broader lessons" must be learnt from a review to ensure British arms exports to Israel are not used in the occupied territories in future.British government-approved arms exports to Israel were worth more than 27.5 million ($A45 million) in 2008, according to the report.NEW ZEALANDSailor's GPS examinedWELLINGTON. A global positioning system being examined by New Zealand maritime authorities could provide vital information about what happened to missing yachtsman Paul van Rensburg.Despite a three-day search after he failed to arrive in Gisborne, Mr van Rensburg's yacht, Tafadzwa, was found by chance on Sunday by a Royal New Zealand Air Force Orion on a training flight, about 110 kilometres west of the Chatham Islands, 17 days after he set sail from Tauranga.There was no sign of Mr van Rensburg but his dog, Juanita, was still on board.The yacht today underwent forensic examination in the Chathams."Really it's just a good search of the boat, lots of photos, videos," Chatham Islands Constable Kane Haerewa said.BRITAINDiana's family sell-offLONDON. Princess Diana's family is selling off paintings, furniture and horse-drawn carriages at auctions likely to raise 20 million ($A33 million), Christie's says.Among the 600 lots is A Commander Being Armed for Battle (pictured), a 1614 painting by Peter Paul Rubens that hung in Althorp, the family seat.Part of a 5600-hectare country estate, Althorp is currently undergoing a $A16.5 million restoration. Its trustees say the sales will help it "thrive for generations to come".There will also be an "attic sale" of items from Althorp, where experts are still working through what Christie's described as a "labyrinth of attics, cellars and stables" finding art, coachmen's uniforms and butler's trays.MEXICOConsulate killings arrestCIUDAD JUAREZ. Mexican soldiers have arrested a suspect in the killings of three people linked to the US consulate in Ciudad Juarez.Police spokesman Enrique Torres said the man arrested on Friday was a member of the Barrio Azteca gang. A Chihuahua state investigator named the suspect as Ricardo Valles de la Rosa, 45.Consulate employee Lesley Enriquez and her husband, Arthur Redelfs, were killed on March 13 in Juarez when gunmen fired on their car after they left a birthday party. Their seven-month-old daughter was in the back of the vehicle.Jorge Alberto Salcido, the husband of a Mexican employee of the consulate, was also killed by gunmen after leaving the same event in a separate vehicle.BURMASuu Kyi party boycottRANGOON. Burma's opposition National League for Democracy, led by the imprisoned Aung San Suu Kyi (right), says it will boycott polls expected later this year, after the ruling junta introduced a controversial new election law.The NLD decided to refuse to register for the polls, the first in two decades, as this would have forced it to oust its detained leader and recognise the junta's constitution.It now faces dissolution in less than six weeks for failing to register."The National League for Democracy has decided not to register," party spokesman Nyan Win said after a meeting of senior members at NLD headquarters in Rangoon. "Our members made their decision in accordance with Suu Kyi's message," he added.
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