LITTLE ROCK — QUOTE OF THE DAY
“It is too easy for Taliban to target foreigners through this way, and maybe he was someone sent by the Taliban.”
Alam Khan,
a member of the provincial council in Afghanistan’s
Baghlan province, where a man dressed as an Afghan soldier opened fire on German troops Article, this page
Ugandans cast votes for president
KAMPALA, Uganda - Ugandans voted Friday in elections that saw President Yoweri Museveni seeking a fourth term after 25 years in power and his rival Kizza Besigye vowing a parallel vote count to guard against fraud in the official tally.
Museveni, 66, is widely expected to win another five years in office, with final results expected Sunday.
But Besigye has announced plans to try to whip up Egypt-style protest rallies if the election is considered tainted.
There was a heavy police and military presence in many parts of the country and clashes reported between opposition supporters and police in some districts.
Ugandan opposition parties accused the electoral body of disenfranchising thousands of registered voters who could not find their names on the voter register.
European Union observers noted other discrepancies, such as unsealed ballot boxes. In some areas, polls opened late.
7 detained after 12 tour boat deaths
HA LONG BAY, Vietnam - Police in Vietnam said today that the captain, crew and owner of a Ha Long Bay tour boat have been detained for questioning two days after 11 foreign vacationers and their Vietnamese guide drowned when the vessel sank as they were sleeping.
Quang Ninh police spokesman Le Thanh Binh said the director of Truong Hai Co., the boat captain and five crew members have been detained.
Vu Van Thin, chief administrator of Quang Ninh province, said the government will offer $1,000 to each of the foreign victims’ families and $500 to the nine survivors.
The tour boat company could not be reached early today, and it’s unclear whether additional compensation will be provided from an insurance company.
The foreign dead - from U.S., Britain, Australia, Japan, Russia, France, Sweden and Switzerland - remain at hospitals in Ha Long Bay.
The local port authority said Friday that all overnight tour operations on the bay had temporarily been suspended.
Tunisian prisoners to get amnesty
TUNIS, Tunisia - Tunisia’s transitional government approved a general amnesty of the country’s political prisoners Friday, the prime minister said, in a move likely to free those convicted under tough anti-terrorism laws.
Prime Minister Mohammed Ghannouchi appeared on Tunisian state television, saying the general amnesty would take effect over the weekend “so that all those convicted under the former regime can get their civic and political rights back and be reintegrated into Tunisian society.”
The announcement, which came just more than a month after mass protests toppled the autocratic president, signaled a policy shift in the North African nation, which has long had a zero-tolerance policy against hardline Islam.
The transitional government’s spokesman, Taieb Baccouche, said the government approved the law at a Cabinet meeting.
Also on the agenda were rumors about the deposed president’s state of health.
News reports have cited unnamed sources as saying ex-President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was in a coma in a hospital in Saudi Arabia.
Tourism Minister Mehdi Haouas neither confirmed nor denied the reports though he acknowledged the matter was briefly addressed at the Cabinet meeting. The ministers’ discussion of Ben Ali’s health “didn’t last longer than 10 seconds,” he said after the meeting.
Ship spews oil in Norwegian park
OSLO - An Icelandic container ship was spilling oil in a Norwegian national park Friday after running aground and rupturing two 250-ton fuel tanks, authorities said.
The Godafoss hit ground late Thursday in the Hvaler park after leaving the southern port of Fredrikstad, near the Swedish border, the Norwegian Coastal Administration said.
It wasn’t immediately clear how much oil spewed into the icy water, but the oil slick reached shore Friday, rescue spokesman Lars Erik Gutubakken said.
Crews placed a boom around the ship to keep more oil from reaching land.
No one was injured in the accident.
Front Section, Pages 5 on 02/19/2011