LITTLE ROCK — QUOTE OF THE DAY
“We want to end impunity in Ivory Coast.
No one is above the law.All those that committed crimes of blood will be punished. ...There will be no exceptions.”
Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara
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Spanish royals attend quake funeral
LORCA, Spain - Spain’s crown prince and princess comforted relatives of nine people killed in Spain’s deadliest earthquakes in more than 50 years, hugging them and shaking their hands Friday as the royals slowly made their way along a long row of mourners.
Prince Felipe and Princess Letizia bent down to chat with the mourners at a crowded funeral Mass held in a trade center, part of which has been turned into a makeshift refugee camp after two quakes Wednesday left many homeless in the southeastern agricultural city of Lorca.
Also attending the Mass was Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who earlier toured the ravaged city for a firsthand look at widespread damage that forced an estimated 3,000 people to spend another night sleeping in tents in makeshift camps.
Zapatero visited the area hardest hit by Wednesday’s two quakes, which also injured nearly 300, and pledged the government will help the city of 90,000 people rebuild and return to normal as soon as possible.
Fired cashier firebombs bank; 40 hurt
BEIJING - A bank cashier fired for stealing money threw a gasoline bomb inside the bank in northwestern China on Friday, injuring dozens of people, some of whom jumped from a fifth-story window to escape, the local government said.
The suspect, Yang Xianwen, fled but was caught by police about nine hours later a short distance away, the government said.
Employees of the Tianzhu County Rural Credit Cooperative Union were meeting about 8 a.m. when Yang threw the gasoline bomb, the propaganda office of the county’s Communist Party said in a statement.
It said more than 40 people were hurt, 19 seriously. It said some of the injured jumped from the meeting-room window onto a three-story building.
Rallies in Mideast back Palestinians
AMMAN, Jordan - Thousands rallied in support of Palestinians on Friday, with demonstrators in Jordan’s capital heeding a call by organizers on Facebook to demand a sovereign Palestinian state, other demonstrations near the Jordanian-Israeli border chanting “Death to Israel,” and still more activists filling Cairo’s Tahrir Square.
Palestinian youth groups called for protests in the West Bank and nearby Arab countries to mark the anniversary of the May 15, 1948, creation of the Jewish state. Palestinians call the anniversary the “day of catastrophe” because of the refugee crisis and loss of land that accompanied the creation of Israel.
About 500 protesters, demanding a sovereign Palestinian state and the right of refugees to return home, marched in Amman’s downtown market district, some wearing Palestinian black and white kefiyahs, or head scarves, and holding keys to family homes left behind.
In Cairo, thousands rallied, beginning a Facebookgenerated campaign aimed at marching on the borders of the Palestinian territories.
Pro-Palestinian demonstrations are not unusual in Jordan or Egypt, but marches solicited on Facebook are.
Organizers are apparently inspired by the uprisings in Egypt and other Arab countries that were heavily dependent on mobilization through social network sites.
Swiss solar plane lands in Brussels
BRUSSELS - A solar-powered plane landed in Brussels on Friday evening after a 12-hour flight from Switzerland, the futuristic aircraft’s first international trip.
The Solar Impulse single-seater prototype took off from Payerne airfield in Switzerland at 8:40 a.m. Swiss time after a three-hour delay because of strong winds.
The four-engine plane with the wingspan of a Boeing 777 made its 2009 maiden flight in Switzerland and further tests have all taken place there.
Last year, it completed a 26-hour nonstop flight that proved the plane can stay aloft at night from the solar energy its 12,000 solar cells soaked up during the day.
The Solar Impulse team, led by pilot Andre Borschberg and adventurer Bertrand Piccard, said Friday’s 370-mile flight across France, Luxembourg and Belgium posed a new challenge because it required navigation across international air traffic networks.
It is scheduled to fly to France in June, where it will be exhibited at the Paris air show.
Front Section, Pages 6 on 05/14/2011