Holder considers torture prosecutions

WASHINGTON, July 12 (UPI) -- U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder is considering having a prosecutor investigate allegations of CIA torture of suspected terrorists, The Washington Post said.

The move could put Holder on a collision course with the White House, the newspaper reported. President Barack Obama has been reluctant to investigate actions carried out under former President George W. Bush, fearing a partisan battle that might derail his agenda.

CIA employees who used harsh interrogation techniques have a defense -- that they were authorized by Justice Department lawyers. But sources told the Post Holder might try to punish some employees who went beyond those methods.

A secret report prepared by the CIA inspector general in 2004 is scheduled to be released Aug. 31. The Justice Department is preparing to release an ethics report on the Bush administration lawyers in the next few weeks.

Former Vice President Dick Cheney has already warned the Obama administration about inquiring into interrogations. In a speech, he said the agents involved in questioning suspects can be "proud of their work and proud of the results." Aid worker released in Philippines

Brown says Britain defeating Taliban

LONDON, July 12 (UPI) -- British Prime Minister Gordon Brown says the Taliban must be defeated in Afghanistan to avoid more terrorist acts on the streets of his country.

"There is a line of terror -- what you might call a chain of terror -- that links what's happening in Afghanistan and Pakistan to the streets of Britain," Brown said Saturday.

Brown sought to shore up support for the war after the death of 15 British soldiers so far this month in Afghanistan, the BBC reported Sunday. Under Operation Panther's Claw, British troops are trying to drive the Taliban from central Helmand province.

"I think the operation we are engaged with is showing signs of success," Brown said. "Our troops are making progress as they attempt to make the area safe."

Critic of the war's strategy contend Britain's 9,000 troops in Afghanistan urgently needs more helicopters and heavily armored vehicles, The Telegraph reported Sunday.

Brown has defended the government's overall strategy and its record on providing equipment.

Aid worker released in Philippines

MANILA, Philippines, July 12 (UPI) -- The last of three kidnapped Red Cross staff members was released Sunday after 179 days as a hostage in the southern Philippines, authorities said.

Eugenio Vagni was exhausted but doing well, said Jean-Daniel Tauxe, the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross in the Philippines.

"The ICRC is relieved and happy that Mr. Vagni will soon be back with his family and friends, who have been living a painful nightmare for almost six months and cannot wait to see him return home," Tauxe said in a statement.

Vagni, an Italian, and two other Red Cross workers, Andreas Notter and Mary Jean Lacaba, were kidnapped Jan. 15 by Abu Sayyaf separatists in Patikul, Sulu. Notter, a Swiss national, and Lacaba, a Filipini, were freed in April.

Abu Sayyaf is a militant Islamist group classified by the U.S. State Department as a terrorist group with ties to al-Qaida.

The Red Cross has been working in the Philippines since 1982, providing assistance to displaced people and assessing the needs and condition of detainees, Tauxe said.

Police ban public assembly in Urumqi

BEIJING, July 12 (UPI) -- Turkey's prime minister says a crackdown on predominately Muslim Uighurs in far west China is genocide.

"There's no point in interpreting this otherwise," Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Saturday from Ankara, Turkey, denouncing what he called China's "savagery." Erdogan, and other Turks view the Uighurs of central Asia as part of the Turkic, Muslim clan, CNN reported Sunday.

Police in Urumqi City, China, Saturday banned public assembly without prior approval in an attempt to quiet the capital city in Xinjiang province, Xinhua, China's state-run news agency reported Sunday.

More than 184 people died and 1,000 others were injured July 5 in Urumqi City when riots broke out between members of China's Han majority and Uighurs, who accuse China of trying to assimilate them into Han culture.

Meanwhile, an explosion Sunday at a petroleum refinery in Urumqi caused no casualties and showed no signs of sabotage, Xinhua said. The cause of the explosion was under investigation.

GM to flatten out top management

DETROIT, July 12 (UPI) -- General Motors Corp. promises the slimming down process, as it tries to recover its position in the U.S. auto industry, will include its top management.

"It's a very painful process," Chief Executive Officer Fritz Henderson told The New York Times. "We don't have a lot of bad executives. We just have too many of them."

Henderson said in an interview Friday 400 of the 1,300 top executive jobs will be cut through resignation or retirement.

In recent years, thousands of GM hourly workers, foremen and office workers have been laid off and plants have closed. But executive ranks at the top were not affected.

Henderson did not give the Times much detail about his plans but he said he is being pressured to "flatten out" management structure.

One likely step is to merge the Automotive Strategy Board and the Automotive Product Board into a single smaller executive committee.

GM came out of bankruptcy Friday. But the company is now partly owned by the federal government and has received $50 billion in federal assistance.

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