QUOTE OF THE DAY
“We, I think, made some progress.”
Secretary of State John Kerry after meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about peace negotiations with the Palestinians Article, this page
Toronto mayor denies bribery attempt
TORONTO - Toronto Mayor Rob Ford denied allegations in newly released court documents that he offered $5,000 and a car to suspected drug dealers in exchange for a video that appears to show him smoking crack.
The mayor addressed the issue during an appearance Thursday on a Washington-based sports talk show to make NFL picks on WJFK-FM.
“No. 1, that’s an outright lie and No. 2, you can talk to my lawyers about it, but I’m here to talk about football guys,” Ford said.
The mayor of Canada’s largest city has been enveloped in scandal since news reports of the video first emerged in May. Ford at first denied the existence of the video. When Toronto police announced in October that they had obtained a copy, Ford admitted he had smoked crack in a “drunken stupor” probably a year ago.
The court documents released Wednesday detail police wiretaps of purported gang members who spoke about delivering drugs to the mayor and having pictures of him using drugs. One suspect is heard telling another that he rejected the offer for the video and planned to meet the mayor and ask for “150,” meaning $150,000.
The wiretaps are evidence in the case against Ford’s friend, Alexander Lisi, who faces trial on drug and extortion charges. The mayor has not been charged.
Iraqi journalist killed by rebels in Syria
BEIRUT - Syrian opposition fighters killed an Iraqi freelance journalist in the rebel-held north of the country, the latest of dozens of reporters who have died in the country over the past three years, an activist group and an international media watchdog said Thursday.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Yasser Faisal al-Jumaili was shot dead Wednesday at a rebel checkpoint in the northwestern province of Idlib.
Soazig Dollet of the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders press advocacy group confirmed al-Jumaili was killed in Idlib, adding that his body was taken to Turkey to be sent home later. She said she doesn’t know how al-Jumaili was killed.
North of Damascus, meanwhile, opposition activists accused the government of using poison gas in an attack on a rebel-held area of the contested town of Nabek.
The government said in a statement that the claims were “categorically false and baseless.”
American teacher shot dead in Benghazi
TRIPOLI, Libya - Unknown assailants shot an American teacher to death as he was jogging Thursday in Benghazi, Libyan and U.S. officials said, underlining persistently tenuous security in the eastern Libyan city where the U.S. ambassador was killed last year.
Fadyah al-Burghathi, spokesman for the Al-Galaa hospital, said the body of a man from Texas was taken to the hospital Thursday with gunshot wounds. A security official said the American taught chemistry at the city’s International School, a Libyan-owned institute that follows an American curriculum.
A U.S. State Department spokesman confirmed that an American citizen was shot and killed in Benghazi. The department identified the teacher as Ronald Thomas Smith II.
No one has claimed responsibility for the teacher’s killing.
The security official, Ibrahim al-Sharaa, said Smith was jogging near the compound where the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans were killed by Islamic militants in September 2012.
Smith was one of four people killed Thursday in Benghazi and whose bodies were taken to the Al-Galaa hospital. The other three were military personnel.
Algerian army takes out five in al-Qaida
ALGIERS, Algeria - Algerian army helicopters killed a high-level al-Qaida operative and four associates as they sped through the southern Algerian desert, a local official said Thursday.
Two four-wheel-drive vehicles carrying Khalil Ould Addah, also known as Abu Bassen, were hit as they traveled through the desert province of Tamanrasset north of the town of Ain Salah, said the official from Tamanrasset, the regional capital.
The Arabic language newspaper al-Khabar said the attack happened Wednesday, adding that the militants had traveled from northern Mali and were heading to a meeting of top al-Qaida in North Africa leaders.
The paper described Ould Addah, a Mauritanian, as the “No. 3” in the organization, but others familiar with the group say he was probably a regional leader.
Front Section, Pages 6 on 12/06/2013