LITTLE ROCK — QUOTE OF THE DAY
“We think the Western countries are not serious about cutting emissions.
Their actions are our survival. If they act positively, then we survive; negatively, we perish.”
Dorchas Moeketsi, climate activist from the African nation of Lesotho, amid a peaceful march in Doha, Qatar, where nearly 200 countries are debating how to slow global warming Article, 9A
Bangladesh to pay factory-fire victims
DHAKA, Bangladesh - Bangladesh’s government said Saturday that it will give $2,500 to the families of those who died in a garment-factory fire last week and $625 to those who were injured.
The government’s offer of compensation, announced by Mahbubul Hoque Shakil, an aide to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, was separate from the garment industry’s promise to pay the families of the victims a monthly salary for at least 10 years.
The fire a week ago killed 112 people and put renewed focus on the lack of proper safety precautions at some of the nation’s 4,000 garment factories.
More than 1,000 workers at the Tazreen factory in a Dhaka suburb protested outside the burned-out facility Saturday demanding compensation for their lost wages.
The government announced they would be paid for November, but some angry workers demanded they be given four months’ salary.
Singapore to deport 29 bus drivers
SINGAPORE - Singapore will deport 29 Chinese immigrant bus drivers who were involved in the city-state’s first strike in 26 years, the government said Saturday.
The Ministry of Manpower said that the drivers’ work permits have been revoked and that another driver will be charged with instigating the strike. Four others were arrested and charged Thursday and face up to a year in prison if found guilty.
The ministry said a police investigation found that the strike was premeditated and that the drivers had been absent from work without reason.
Strikes are almost unheard of in Singapore. The last was in 1986 by shipyard workers.
Singapore law requires essential-service workers such as bus drivers to give 14 days’ notice of a strike.
A total of 171 Chinese bus drivers went on strike last Monday to protest being paid nearly a quarter less than Malaysian bus drivers who work for the same transport company. The strike was over by Wednesday.
Pentagon lawyer: Al-Qaida war has end
LONDON - The war on terror is not an endless conflict and the U.S. is approaching a “tipping point” after which the military fight against al-Qaida will be replaced by a law enforcement and intelligence operation, the Pentagon’s top lawyer has said.
Jeh Johnson told an audience at the University of Oxford that the core of al-Qaida is “degraded, disorganized and on the run,” according to a transcript of his Friday speech.
Johnson, general counsel to the U.S. Defense Department, said that once most al-Qaida members were captured or killed, armed conflict would be replaced by “a counterterrorism effort against individuals” led by law enforcement and intelligence agencies.
His speech to the Oxford Union debating society marked rare public comments by a senior U.S. official about the end of the armed conflict launched after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
He said the war would one day end. Although there was no question of a compromise or peace treaty with al-Qaida, neither could the U.S. “capture or kill every last terrorist who claims an affiliation with al-Qaida.”
Hamas leader to visit the Gaza Strip
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - The leader of Gaza’s ruling Hamas group will visit the Palestinian territory for the first time, an official said Saturday, a sign of the Islamic militant movement’s increasing boldness after it held its own against an Israeli military offensive.
Khaled Mashaal was set to arrive in the Gaza Strip next week by crossing the border from Egypt to mark Hamas’ 25th anniversary and congratulate its leaders and fighters for battling Israel during the recent eight-day offensive, according to a senior Hamas official in Gaza.
Mashaal previously had been prevented from crossing into Gaza by longtime Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak.
But Mubarak was ousted in February 2011, and the Muslim Brotherhood has since risen to power.
Front Section, Pages 10 on 12/02/2012