WORLD BRIEFS

BRITAIN: Terror suspect loses appeal

Radical Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri has lost a court appeal against extradition to the United States to face terrorism charges, including allegedly trying to set up an al-Qaida training camp in rural Oregon, Britain's Home Office said. Yesterday, the European Court of Human Rights, based in Strasbourg, France, rejected the appeal. Al-Masri, who is blind in one eye and has a hook for a hand, is known for his fiery anti-Western and anti-Semitic outbursts. He is serving a seven-year prison term in Britain for inciting hatred. He has also been linked to the taking of 16 hostages in Yemen in 1998.

LIBYA: Two militia leaders replaced

The military command appointed army officers Monday to head two powerful Islamist militias in the east, part of the push to rein in armed factions. The move reflects the pressure on the government to control or disband the militias, many of which it had relied upon for securing Libya in the turmoil after the ouster and killing of Moammar Gadhafi. The chiefs of the Rafallah Sahati Brigade and the Feb. 17 Brigade, which had been allowed to manage security in Benghazi, will be replaced. Anger with the militias boiled over following the killing of the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three U.S. mission staffers in an assault on the consulate in Benghazi on Sept. 11. Members of the radical Islamist Ansar al-Shariah militia are suspected of being behind the attack.

CZECH REPUBLIC: 2 held in poison death of 25

Two people suspected in a wave of methanol poisoning that has killed at least 25 people in the Czech Republic in the past two weeks have been arrested. State prosecutor Roman Kafka said Monday the two, from the northeastern part of the country, are suspected of producing a "brutal blend" of toxic methanol with drinking alcohol. Methanol is mainly used for industrial purposes but criminal networks sometimes use it to produce liquor because it's cheap and impossible for consumers to distinguish from drinking alcohol.