LITTLE ROCK — QUOTE OF THE DAY
“It seems that they intervened at the earliest
possible moment in a situation in which ‘zero risk’ cannot be achieved.”
The Rev. Federico Lombardi,
the Vatican spokesman, after a woman rushed at the pontiff on Christmas Eve and managed to knock him down before being pulled away by guards Article, 1A
China sentences dissident to 11 years
BEIJING - China’s leading dissident, Liu Xiaobo, was sentenced to 11 years in prison Friday after a court found the 53-year-old literary scholar guilty of “inciting subversion to state power” through his writings and role in Charter 08, a petition advocating human rights, free speech and an end to one-party rule.
Liu’s trial, which took place at the Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court, lasted less than three hours Wednesday. The judge rejected evidence the defense sought to introduce and limited the speaking time of Liu’s attorneys to 14 minutes, according to one of Liu’s brothers. He said that 18 mostly young people were allowed to listen to the proceedings but that Liu’s wife, Liu Xia, could not. She planned to attend the Friday sentencing, having seen her husband only twice since he was detained more than a year ago.
The judge also barred journalists and foreign diplomats from attending. In contrast to the 1990s, when visits by leading international envoys often brought the release of dissidents, China has ignored calls by the Obama administration and other Western governments for Liu’s release.
Israeli premier asks rival to join party
JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has asked moderate opposition leader Tzipi Livni to join his government, a move that could boost efforts to restart negotiations with the Palestinians if she accepts or could rip apart her rival party if she refuses.
The offer, made late Thursday after a Cabinet meeting, came amid reports that Netanyahu was trying to persuade lawmakers from Livni’s Kadima party to bolt to his Likud. On Friday, one lawmaker announced she would join Likud if Livni rejected the offer.
Livni did not turn down the offer. “I’m not closing the door,” she said. If the offer is serious, Livni said, she wants to explore how far Netanyahu is willing to go in negotiations with the Palestinians.
However, she also said she wouldn’t be part of a maneuver to split Kadima, and earlier this week accused Netanyahu of trying to break up her party by courting its lawmakers.
Ship fire off Venezuela leaves 9 missing
CARACAS, Venezuela - A Greek-owned cargo ship caught fire in the Caribbean off Venezuela’s coast Friday, leaving nine crew members missing and injuring five others, Venezuelan authorities said.
The Aegean Wind was carrying more than 37,000 tons of iron ore from Brazil to Houston when a blaze broke out in the mess hall before dawn, according to the vessel’s owner, Piraeus-based Atlantic Bulk Carrier Management Ltd.
Venezuelan navy Adm. Carlos Maximo Aniasi Turchio said the five injured crew members were taken by helicopter to Margarita Island and were to be transferred later to a military hospital in the capital, Caracas.
Aniasi Turchio said the fire had been extinguished and 10 crew members, including the captain, were to be evacuated shortly.
In jet’s Jamaica skid, guide lights out
KINGSTON, Jamaica - Offshore lights that guide pilots into Jamaica’s main airport had been knocked out for more than a month when an American Airlines jet landed in driving rain and overshot the runway, injuring most of the 154 people on board, officials said Friday.
An underwater electrical fault in November disrupted the 1,300-foot stretch of white lights on a sandbar stretching into the Caribbean Sea, according to Norman Manley International Airport operations director Stanley Smith.
Pilots have been regularly advised about the failure, and the runway itself was fully lit, he said.
“The airport has been fully operational since [the failure] ... so we wouldn’t presume that would be a cause.
But clearly the investigation is still preliminary,” airport vice president Mark Williams said.
American Airlines Flight 331 skidded off the runway as it landed in heavy rain Tuesday night, arriving from Washington’s Reagan National Airport by way of Miami.
Front Section, Pages 11 on 12/26/2009