LITTLE ROCK — QUOTE OF THE DAY
“There has never been a battle before with this much booty.”
Gen. Ahmad al-Faj of the Syrian rebels Joint Command,
a grouping of rebel brigades that was involved in the siege of a large military base Article, 1A
Pole arrested in assassination plot
WARSAW, Poland - A Polish academic who authorities say was fascinated with Norwegian mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik and upset over the economy has been arrested on suspicion of plotting to kill the nation’s president and blow up Parliament.
An analysis of Breivik’s Internet purchases of explosives before he massacred 77 people last year led to the suspect’s arrest on Nov. 9, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Tuesday. The 45-year-old “expert in explosives” from the Agricultural University in Krakow was trying to set up a group to kill President Bronislaw Komorowski and other officials during a session of Parliament, according to prosecutors.
The suspect, whose name wasn’t made public, planned to detonate 4 tons of explosives from a car parked outside the Parliament building, Mariusz Krason of the appellate prosecutor’s office in Krakow said at a news conference in Warsaw on Tuesday. Poland’s Internal Security Agency detained two others in connection with the planned attacks.
While the man wasn’t a member of any political party, “he described himself as being nationalistic, xenophobic and anti-Semitic,” Krason told reporters.
Islamists claim control of Mali’s north
BAMAKO, Mali - Islamist extremist rebels Tuesday said they have pushed secular Tuareg fighters from Menaka, their last base in northern Mali.
Oumar Ould Hamaha, spokesman of the Islamists of MUJAO, said the Tuaregs were forced to retreat from Menaka on Tuesday after heavy fighting. He said Menaka is under the control of the Islamists.
“I do not have an accurate record of the dead, but more than 100 fighters were killed,” said Hamaha. He said the Islamists were hunting for Mohamed Najim, the military leader of the Tuaregs.
Residents contacted by telephone also report that Menaka is controlled by the Islamists, but add that the Tuaregs are just a few miles from the town.
But the Tuareg group, the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad, has not given up, according to its spokesman, Moussa Ag Assarid, who spoke from his base in Paris. He said MUJAO was getting significant support from another Islamist extremist group, al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb.
Iraqi Kurd: National force risks attack
BAGHDAD - The commander of Kurdish Peshmerga forces warned Tuesday that his troops might attack Iraqi government soldiers at “any minute” after the central government sent tanks and armored vehicles toward the disputed city of Kirkuk.
The threat by Mahmoud Sankawi was the latest sign of increasing tension between the autonomous Kurdish region and Baghdad after the central government sent forces last month to the area, including disputed sites in a new military command.
Already poor relations between the central government and Kurds worsened after an Iraqi government decision last month to set up the military command there. The force also oversees disputed areas claimed by Iraqi Arabs, Turkomen and Kurds, in particular the areas surrounding Mosul and Kirkuk.
Pakistan tosses girl’s blasphemy case
ISLAMABAD - A Pakistani court Tuesday dismissed charges against a Christian girl accused of desecrating the Koran, ending a case that had cast a spotlight on the country’s contentious blasphemy law and renewed questions about the treatment of minority groups.
The Islamabad High Court concluded there was no evidence to support allegations that Rimsha Masih, 14, had ripped pages from the Koran on Aug. 16 and burned them, said one of her lawyers, Akmal Waheed Bhatti.
Rimsha spent three weeks in jail but was later freed on bail after police came across evidence they say shows an imam at a mosque in her neighborhood had ripped pages from a copy of the Koran and planted them in a bag of ashes and trash that the girl was taking to a garbage bin.
The cleric, Khalid Chishti, now faces charges of fabricating evidence against Rimsha. Chishti was among the group of Muslims in Rimsha’s neighborhood who claimed she had violated the blasphemy law. He is free on bail and awaiting trial.
In Pakistan, it is a crime to desecrate the Koran or insult the Prophet Muhammad or the Islamic faith in any way.
In some instances a conviction can lead to the death sentence.
Front Section, Pages 6 on 11/21/2012