LITTLE ROCK — QUOTE OF THE DAY “Hope and history are on the side of those who peacefully seek their universal rights, and so is the United States.” White House National Security Council spokesman Mike Hammer
on opposition protests in Iran where five people were purportedly killed Article, 1APriest: Riots kill 7 migrants in Suriname
PARAMARIBO, Suriname - At least seven foreign migrants are dead and hundreds more homeless after rioting and attacks in Suriname left a border town in ashes, a Brazilian priest aiding victims said Sunday.
The Rev. Jose Vergilio said the riots in the town of Albina, which began late Thursday after a Brazilian reportedly stabbed a local man to death, have made the area uninhabitable for an estimated 300 people who fled.
Police have confirmed only one death without providing details. Vergilio’s account suggested a higher toll, although the nationality of the dead migrants was unclear.
Authorities say at least 20 Brazilian women were raped in the tumult, and all Brazilians and many Chinese living in the area were evacuated.
Eight people including a government official have been arrested on charges such as rape and arson, police said.
American believed held in N. Korea
SEOUL, South Korea - An American missionary is believed to be in North Korean custody after he illegally entered the communist nation on Christmas Day to call attention to the reclusive country’s human-rights conditions, an activist said Sunday.
Robert Park, 28, slipped across the frozen Tumen River into the North from China on Friday. There has been no word from him since, but an activist with the Seoul-based group Pax Koreana who knows Park said he was likely arrested quickly by border guards or police.
Park, who is of Korean descent, was carrying a letter urging leader Kim Jong Il to step down and free all political prisoners, the activist said.
Two other activists filmed Park's crossing, the activist told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.
Croatian presidential race down to 2
ZAGREB, Croatia - The state-run Electoral Commission said Sunday that an opposition member and the Zagreb mayor - an independent - will face off in Croatia’s runoff presidential elections.
After nearly all votes were counted from Sunday’s vote, the commission said the leftist opposition Social Democrat member, Ivo Josipovic, garnered 32.4 percent of votes and Zagreb’s Mayor Milan Bandic got 14.8 percent of votes.
Since neither garnered the 50 percent support required for outright victory, they will now face each other in a Jan. 10 runoff.
Both candidates are considered pro-Western and friendly toward the U.S., and both will likely support Croatia’s efforts to win entry into the European Union, possibly in 2011 or 2012.
Front Section, Pages 6 on 12/28/2009