LITTLE ROCK — QUOTE OF THE DAY

“The reason behind the ongoing tragedy

is the Syrian regime that has refused to

acknowledge the legitimate demands of the Syrians and has chosen to try to rule its people by brutal force.”

Turkey’s foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu

Article, this pageBurma frees 452 ahead of Obama visit

NEW DELHI - In an apparent good-will gesture days before a visit by President Barack Obama, Burma’s president Thursday released 452 prisoners. It wasn’t immediately clear, however, how many had been jailed for their political views and how many were common criminals.

According to the state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper, President Thein Sein ordered the amnesty “on humanitarian grounds” to spur friendship with neighboring countries and in hopes that those released would recognize the good will of the state and “do their bits in nation-building tasks.”

“I welcome the release of any prisoners, especially political prisoners,” said Tint Swe, chairman of India’s Burma Center Delhi, while adding that the timing is a bit obvious. “Whenever there is an international visitor coming, these so-called positive moves come out of the military regime. It can be interpreted that political prisoners are a sort of ransom.”

Ex-politician: BBC report ‘rubbish’

A former British politician who was wrongly implicated in child sexual abuse on a program produced by the BBC said Thursday, in his first public interview since the segment aired, that the allegation was “complete rubbish” and that the broadcaster should have called him to check it out.

The politician, Lord Alistair McAlpine, a treasurer of the Conservative Party in the Thatcher era, was not identified by name in the report on the Newsnight program on Nov. 2, but the broadcast provoked a slew of accusations on the Internet relating to a decades-old abuse case at a children’s home near Wrexham in North Wales.

The subsequent disclosure that McAlpine had been wrongfully implicated compounded a deepening crisis at the BBC with roots in an earlier decision by Newsnight to cancel a segment investigating Jimmy Savile, a longtime BBC television host now said by police to have sexually abused as many as 300 young people over decades.

The BBC has acknowledged that McAlpine was not contacted by Newsnight to comment on the allegation. His accuser, Steve Messham, a former resident of the children’s home, has since withdrawn his accusation and apologized.

1 killed, Jordan vows to crush unrest

AMMAN, Jordan - Jordanian authorities will strike those who incite violence during protests with an “iron fist,” the country’s police chief said Thursday as the Islamist-led opposition vowed to continue demonstrations that have rattled the U.S.-allied kingdom.

The protests, which broke out Tuesday across Jordan in response to the government’s raising fuel and gas prices, are the largest and most sustained to hit the country since the start of uprisings in the region nearly two years ago.

Gunmen taking advantage of street chaos caused by the protests fired on two police stations late Wednesday, wounding 17 people, including 13 police officers, officials said. One of the assailants was killed in the ensuing firefight.

“We will hit with an iron fist those who violated the law by stirring unrest,” said Gen. Hussein Majali, adding that he had “zero tolerance” for such actions.

Since Tuesday, 157 protesters - including two Syrian refugees - were arrested for street violence, Majali said.

The Syrians confessed to have been paid by an unidentified Jordanian political party to join protests to beef up crowd numbers, he added.

Ugandans isolated after Ebola kills 3

KAMPALA, Uganda - Scores of Ugandans were isolated Thursday to prevent the spread of a new outbreak of Ebola that has already killed three people.

Uganda has experienced increasingly regular outbreaks of deadly hemorrhagic fevers that have left health officials grappling for answers.

The new Ebola outbreak was confirmed Wednesday in a district 40 miles from the Ugandan capital, Kampala.

The outbreak comes roughly a month after Uganda declared itself Ebola-free after an earlier outbreak in a remote district of western Uganda.

The latest Ebola outbreak, officials say, is of the Sudan strain of Ebola and not linked to the previous one, of the Congo variety, which killed at least 16 villagers in July and August in the western district of Kibaale. In addition to the three dead in the latest outbreak, up to 15 are being monitored for signs of the disease, officials said.

Front Section, Pages 7 on 11/16/2012