WORLD

IN BRIEF

Gitmo List Released

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — The U.S. government released the most extensive list yet of the hundreds of detainees who have been held at the Guantanamo Bay prison — nearly all labeled enemy combatants, but only a handful of whom have faced formal charges.

In all, 558 people were named in the list provided by the Pentagon on Wednesday in response to a Freedom of Information lawsuit by The Associated Press. They were among the first swept up in the U.S. global war on terrorism for suspected links to al-Qaida or the Taliban.

The list is the first official roster of Guantanamo detainees who passed through the Combatant Status Review Tribunal process in 2004 and 2005 to determine whether they should be deemed “enemy combatants.” Those named are from Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia and 39 other countries. Many have been held at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay for more than four years.

TomKat Baby Girl

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Word of the world’s most famous silent birth has finally been heard.

Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, the public lovebirds dubbed TomKat by the media, “joyously welcomed the arrival” of a baby girl Tuesday, said Cruise spokesman Arnold Robinson.

The girl, named Suri, came into the world at 7 pounds, 7 ounces and 20 inches long. Her name has its origins in Hebrew, meaning “princess,” or in Persian, meaning “red rose,” Robinson said in a statement.

“Both mother and daughter are doing well,” the publicist said.

Details about the birth weren’t disclosed, but it had been planned to take place as a silent procedure under the tenets of the Church of Scientology, to which both Cruise and Holmes belong.

Scientologists believe words spoken during times of pain are recorded by the “reactive mind” and can cause potential problems for both mother and child.

Finns’ Eurovision Fear

ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) — Finnish Eurovision Song Contest enthusiasts have voiced alarm over their country’s entry to the Eurovision Song Contest, which is to be held in Athens this year.

The band ‘Lordi’ won the Finnish national selection in a fair vote, but now some think the group — comprised of five masked musicians dressed as a ghost, a mummy, a zombie, a beast and a demon — should be banned.

In Finland, rumors are spreading that the masked freaks are in fact a Russian delegation of KGB agents sent by Vladimir Putin to destabilize Finland and launch a coup.

Christian leaders have warned against listening to the band’s music as it can lead to the worship of Satan.

A massive resistance movement has been created to stop the band from representing Finland in Athens. Their aim is to have Finnish President Tarja Halonen outlaw the band.

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