LITTLE ROCK — QUOTE OF THE DAY
“I announce here that France recognizes
the National Syrian Coalition as the sole representative of the Syrian people and, therefore, as the future provisional government of democratic Syria.”
French President Francois Hollande
Article, this pageU.N. vote condemns embargo of Cuba
UNITED NATIONS - The General Assembly on Tuesday voted for the 21st year in a row to overwhelmingly to condemn the U.S. commercial, economic and financial embargo against Cuba.
The final tally Tuesday was 188-3, with Israel and Palau joining the United States. The Marshall Islands and Micronesia both abstained. Last year’s tally for the symbolic measure was almost identical, 186-2, with three abstentions.
The embargo was first enacted in 1960 after Cuba’s nationalization of properties belonging to U.S. citizens and corporations. Sanctions against the Caribbean nation were further strengthened to a near-total embargo in 1962.
Speaking before the General Assembly, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez railed against the embargo, calling the U.S. policy “inhumane, failed and anachronistic.”
The United States has made clear that although some restrictions on travel and remittances have been eased under the Obama administration, it is not prepared to lift the sanctions entirely until the communist-run nation enacts more far-reaching political and economic changes.
S. Africans find 4 of 5 stolen artworks
JOHANNESBURG - An informer’s tip led South African police to a private cemetery Tuesday where they found four paintings hundreds of miles away from where they had been stolen from a museum in the capital, authorities said.
The tip is the latest twist in a heist in which $2 million worth of art was stolen Sunday from the Pretoria Art Museum by pistol-wielding thieves posing as eager students with their teacher. One oil painting of a South African township street scene by artist Gerard Sekoto remains missing.
A canine officer received a tip from an informer Tuesday that led him to a private cemetery in Port Elizabeth, a city about 700 miles from Pretoria, said Brig. Marinda Mills of the South African Police Service. There, under a bench near a memorial wall with plaques naming the dead, officers found four of the missing five pieces of art, she said.
Mills said police had started to verify that the paintings found, all in good condition, were the originals.
No arrests have been made, but officers continue to investigate in the area in hopes that the other stolen painting may be nearby, Mills said.
Jordan’s fuel-price rises stir protests
AMMAN, Jordan - Jordan’s prime minister announced price increases for gasoline and other fuels Tuesday, setting off demonstrations and calls for general strikes.
Protesters blamed Jordan’s problems on King Abdullah II.
Abdullah Ensour’s announcement on state TV cited a need to offset $5 billion in state losses from a rising fuel bill.
The news sparked protests in the capital, Amman, and at least 12 other cities across Jordan.
“Revolution, revolution, it is a popular revolution,” chanted about 2,000 protesters in an impromptu demonstration at a main Amman square, housing the Interior Ministry and other vital government departments.
The protesters - affiliated with Muslim, Arab nationalist, Marxist, communist and youth opposition groups - also targeted Abdullah in a rare public display against the monarch. Criticizing the king in public is forbidden in Jordan and is punishable by up to three years in jail.
China shows Central Committee ballot
BEIJING - China’s ruling Communists in the 18th national congress were handed a list of candidates for their new Central Committee on Tuesday ahead of a tightly circumscribed vote to select a new leadership for the world’s most populous nation.
There are 108 candidates for every 100 seats, the party said, though it did not give the exact number. The measure is intended to introduce a degree of competition amid calls for greater intraparty democracy within China’s authoritarian, one-party system.
The congress’s presidium, headed by leader-in-waiting Xi Jinping, handed down the list of carefully vetted candidates Tuesday to the national congress delegates, who number just under 2,300 delegates. About 200 will be elected, along with their alternates.
Front Section, Pages 6 on 11/14/2012