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[edhardy]

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[edhardy]

JOHANNESBURG ?C A British coup-plotter and four South African mercenaries pardoned for attempting the overthrow of Equatorial Guinea's government were freed from prison Tuesday in the tiny oil-rich African nation, the country's chief judge said.

Simon Mann and his co-defendants were convicted in a trial that aired a plot in which well-connected Britons and others sought to install an exiled opposition figure in Africa's No. 3 oil producing nation. The coup unraveled before it even began, when Mann and a planeload of other mercenaries were arrested in Zimbabwe where they were to buy assault rifles, grenades and anti-tank rockets.

The U.S. government reportedly got wind of the plot and blew the whistle, though no U.S. government official ever confirmed that. Several leading U.S. oil companies, including Exxon Mobil, Amerada Hess and ChevronTexaco, operate in Equatorial Guinea.

Mann, 57, who was born into a world of wealth and privilege, had been serving a 35-year sentence in Equatorial Guinea for the 2004 plot.

President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, who himself took power in a coup 30 years ago, on Monday gave the five men "a full pardon for humanitarian reasons," Supreme Court Chief Justice Obono Olo told The Associated Press. Mann and his accomplices were freed later Tuesday, Obono said.

The case ensnared Mark Thatcher, son of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, as Mann implicated him as a chief bankroller in the coup plot along with Equatorial Guinean-based Lebanese businessman Eli Calil. Thatcher pleaded guilty in a South African court to unwittingly helping fund the operation. He was fined and given a suspended sentence.

Mann said Calil told him the government of Spain, the country's former colonial power, was aware of and supported the plot. The plan was to put into power opposition leader Severo Moto, who is exiled in Madrid, and get some control over the country's oil wealth.

Human rights groups accuse Obiang of using the oil wealth to make his family fabulously rich while most of his countrymen live in squalor.

Olo, who was the attorney general who prosecuted the coup plotters, denied rumors that Mann was unwell, saying he is "fine, fit." He also denied that any pressure had been brought by foreign governments seeking their release from the notorious Black Beach prison.

But a statement on the Ministry of Information Web site noted that Mann and the others were being freed "with the hope that the accused return to their families and receive appropriate medical treatment according to their age and health." The ministry noted that if he had served his 35-year sentence, Mann would have been more than 90 years old on his release.

It said the Ministry of Justice, Culture and Prisons proposed the pardon to the president, who granted "compassionate forgiveness."

Mann's family members said they were "overjoyed at the prospect of finally welcoming Simon home after 5 1/2 long years away."

"The family is absolutely delighted that Simon has been pardoned and is to be released shortly," they said in a statement, according to Britain's Press Association. "Everyone is profoundly grateful to the president and the government of Equatorial Guinea."

Mann, a former officer in Britain's elite SAS and the alleged coup plot ringleader, was educated at Eton, a prestigious private school in Britain whose alumni also include Princes William and Harry. Mann is the son of former England cricket captain George Mann and heir to the Watley Ale brewing fortune.

Mann first was arrested in 2004 when his plane landed in Harare, Zimbabwe, with 70 other alleged mercenaries to collect weapons purchased from Zimbabwe's state arms manufacturer. The four South Africans involved are Nicolaas du Toit, Sergio Cardoso, Jose Sundays and George Alerson.

Obiang took power in a 1979 coup in which then President Francisco Macias Nguema, his uncle, was assassinated by a firing squad. Under pressure from Western backers, Obiang held the first multiparty elections in 1991 and has won every election since, most recently in 2002 with 91 percent of votes. New elections are scheduled for Nov. 29.

Opponents say the electoral process and voting are rigged in his party's favor.

Despite its wealth, most of Equatorial Guinea's half-million people are very poor, child mortality rates have risen and government officials are accused of siphoning off oil revenue.

International human rights groups have accused U.S. oil companies of aiding corruption. A U.S. government 2004 report found that some $700 million from Equatorial Guinea was held at Washington's Riggs Bank — making the country the bank's biggest customer.

Riggs was fined millions of dollars in money-laundering fines. Nothing was done against Obiang, who was invited to Washington by then-President George W. Bush in 2006 and called a "good friend" by then-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

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[edhardy]

WASHINGTON ?C In a victory for President Barack Obama, the Democratic-controlled House narrowly passed landmark health care legislation Saturday night to expand coverage to tens of millions who lack it and place tough new restrictions on the insurance industry. Republican opposition was nearly unanimous.

The 220-215 vote cleared the way for the Senate to begin a long-delayed debate on the issue that has come to overshadow all others in Congress.

A triumphant Speaker Nancy Pelosi likened the legislation to the passage of Social Security in 1935 and Medicare 30 years later — and Obama issued a statement saying, "I look forward to signing it into law by the end of the year."

"It provides coverage for 96 percent of Americans. It offers everyone, regardless of health or income, the peace of mind that comes from knowing they will have access to affordable health care when they need it," said Rep. John Dingell, the 83-year-old Michigan lawmaker who has introduced national health insurance in every Congress since succeeding his father in 1955.

In the run-up to a final vote, conservatives from the two political parties joined forces to impose tough new restrictions on abortion coverage in insurance policies to be sold to many individuals and small groups. They prevailed on a roll call of 240-194.

Ironically, that only solidified support for the legislation, clearing the way for conservative Democrats to vote for it. nike dunks

The legislation would require most Americans to carry insurance and provide federal subsidies to those who otherwise could not afford it. Large companies would have to offer coverage to their employees. Both consumers and companies would be slapped with penalties if they defied the government's mandates.

Insurance industry practices such as denying coverage because of pre-existing medical conditions would be banned, and insurers would no longer be able to charge higher premiums on the basis of gender or medical history. In a further slap, the industry would lose its exemption from federal antitrust restrictions on price fixing and market allocation.

At its core, the measure would create a federally regulated marketplace where consumers could shop for coverage. In the bill's most controversial provision, the government would sell insurance, although the Congressional Budget Office forecasts that premiums for it would be more expensive than for policies sold by private firms.

A cheer went up from the Democratic side of the House when the bill gained 218 votes, a majority. Moments later, Democrats counted down the final seconds of the voting period in unison, and let loose an even louder roar when Pelosi grabbed the gavel and declared, "the bill is passed."

The bill drew the votes of 219 Democrats and Rep. Joseph Cao, a first-term Republican who holds an overwhelmingly Democratic seat in New Orleans. Opposed were 176 Republicans and 39 Democrats.

From the Senate, Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada issued a statement saying, "We realize the strong will for reform that exists, and we are energized that we stand closer than ever to reforming our broken health insurance system."

In his written statement, Obama praised the House's action and said, "now the United State Senate must follow suit and pass its version of the legislation. I am absolutely confident it will."

Minority Republicans cataloged their objections across hours of debate on the 1,990-page, $1.2 trillion legislation. nike sb

"We are going to have a complete government takeover of our health care system faster than you can say, `this is making me sick,'" jabbed Rep. Candice Miller, R-Mich., adding that Democrats were intent on passing "a jobs-killing, tax-hiking, deficit-exploding" bill.

But with little doubt about the outcome, the rhetoric lacked the fire of last summer's town hall meetings, when some critics accused Democrats of plotting "death panels" to hasten the demise of senior citizens.

The bill is projected to expand coverage to 36 million uninsured, resulting in 96 percent of the nation's eligible population having insurance.

To pay for the expansion of coverage, the bill cuts Medicare's projected spending by more than $400 billion over a decade. It also imposes a tax surcharge of 5.4 percent on income over $500,000 in the case of individuals and $1 million for families.

The bill was estimated to reduce federal deficits by about $104 billion over a decade, although it lacked two of the key cost-cutting provisions under consideration in the Senate, and its longer-term impact on government red ink was far from clear.

Democrats lined up a range of outside groups behind their legislation, none more important than the AARP, whose support promises political cover against the cuts to Medicare in next year's congressional elections.

The nation's drug companies generally support health care overhaul. And while the powerful insurance industry opposed the legislation, it did so quietly, and the result was that Republicans could not count on the type of advertising campaign that might have peeled away skittish Democrats in swing districts.

Over all, the bill envisioned the most sweeping set of changes to the health care system in more than a generation, and Democrats said it marked the culmination of a campaign that Harry Truman began when he sat in the White House 60 years ago.

Debate on the House floor had already begun when Obama strode into a closed-door meeting of the Democratic rank and file across the street from the Capitol to make a final personal appeal to them to pass his top domestic priority.

Later, in an appearance at the White House, he said he had told lawmakers, "to rise to this moment. Answer the call of history, and vote yes for health insurance reform for America."

It appeared that a compromise brokered Friday night on the volatile issue of abortion had finally secured the votes needed to pass the legislation.

As drafted, the measure denied the use of federal subsidies to purchase abortion coverage in policies sold by private insurers in the new insurance exchange, except in cases of incest, rape or when the life of the mother was in danger.

But abortion foes won far stronger restrictions that would rule out abortion coverage except in those three categories in any government-sold plan. It would also ban abortion coverage in any private plan purchased by consumers receiving federal subsidies.

Disappointed Democratic abortion rights supporters grumbled about the turn of events, but pulled back quickly from any thought of opposing the health care bill in protest.

One, Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., detailed numerous other benefits for women in the bill, including free medical preventive services and better prescription drug coverage under Medicare. "Women need health care reform," she concluded in remarks on the House floor.

A Republican alternative was rejected on a near party line vote of 258-176.

It relied heavily on loosening regulations on private insurers to reduce costs for those who currently have insurance, in some cases by as much as 10 percent. But congressional budget analysts said the plan would make no dent in the ranks of the uninsured, an assessment that highlighted the difference in priorities between the two political parties. nike air max

___

Associated Press writers Phil Elliott, Alan Fram and Erica Werner contributed to this report.