LITTLE ROCK — QUOTE OF THE DAY
“When they were really scared, they were
happy to find a consensus. Now that many believe - wrongly - the crisis is behind us
and they have domestic concerns ... they’re less concerned by multilateral coordination.”
Dominique Strauss-Kahn,
International Monetary Fund managing director, on the deal the
Group of 20 members reached to measure trade imbalances Article, 9A
Tunisians condemn killing of priest
TUNIS, Tunisia - The Tunisian government and a long-banned Islamist party Saturday denounced the slaying of a Roman Catholic priest, while several hundred people gathered outside the French Embassy in the capital to demand the recall of France’s new ambassador.
The priest Marek Marius Rybinski, 34, was found Friday with his throat slit and stab wounds in the parking lot of the religious school in the Tunis suburb of Manouma.
The slaying of the Polish priest was the first deadly attack on members of religious minorities since last month’s ouster of Tunisia’s longtime autocratic president, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
The Interior Ministry said the killing appeared to be the work of a “group of extremist terrorist fascists,” judging by the way it was carried out, and vowed that those responsible would be severely punished.
In the capital, several hundred people gathered Saturday outside the French Embassy to demand that France recall its new ambassador, Boris Boillon.
The protesters denounced what they called Boillon’s “insulting behavior” at his introductory news conference recently, though it was not clear what exactly he said or did to anger them.
Police battle protesters in Dresden
BERLIN - German police fired tear gas and water cannons to keep apart groups of far-right supporters and thousands of counterdemonstrators trying to hinder their rally in an eastern city Saturday, police said.
Hundreds of leftist protesters in Dresden tried to break through police barriers, hurling rocks and fireworks at officers who responded with baton charges, tear gas and pepper spray.
About 1,000 far-right supporters were at three courtapproved rallies or on their way there early Saturday afternoon, police said.
A far larger number of counterdemonstrators - supported by unions, democratic parties and civil-society groups - were in the city trying to prevent them from going ahead, police added. Three protesters were arrested.
Dresden authorities said earlier last week that it expects at least 3,000 far-right supporters from Germany and elsewhere and about 20,000 counterdemonstrators to gather.
The annual protest rally constitutes one of Europe’s biggest far-right gatherings, usually held earlier in February to commemorate the anniversary of a deadly Allied bombing at the end of World War II.
Banned Egypt party gains recognition
CAIRO - A moderate Islamic party outlawed for 15 years was granted official recognition Saturday by an Egyptian court.
Al-Wasat Al-Jadid, or the New Center, was founded in 1996 by activists who split off from the conservative Muslim Brotherhood and sought to create a political movement promoting a tolerant version of Islam with liberal tendencies. Its attempts to register as an official party were rejected four times since then.
In 2007, Human Rights Watch accused former President Hosni Mubarak and his ruling National Democratic Party of using the law that governs the formation of political parties to maintain a virtual monopoly over political power in Egypt by denying opponents the right to form parties.
The founder of the newly recognized party, Abu al-Ila Madi, said Saturday’s ruling by the Supreme Administrative Court was “a positive fruit of the Jan. 25 revolution of the freedom generation.”Cuba freeing 7 political prisoners
HAVANA - Cuba’s government has agreed to free seven more prisoners, the Roman Catholic Church announced Saturday. Six convicted of crimes against state security are bound for Spain, but a political prisoner who was freed said he plans to remain on the island and return to the independent reporting that led to his arrest.
The releases continue a slow stream of prisoners who have been freed recently at the behest of the church, with most of them quickly sent into exile.
But the new releases also included one of the men who has refused exile: Ivan Hernandez, an independent journalist who was among 75 people arrested in a crackdown on dissidents in 2003. The inmates who have vowed to remain in Cuba have been the last to leave prison.
The archbishop’s office said the other six are Roger Cardoso, Yoan Jose Navalon, Yosnel Batista, Juan Antonio Bermudez, Marco Antonio Zayas and Reinier Concepcion.
Front Section, Pages 10 on 02/20/2011