QUOTE OF THE DAY
“The Arctic 30 now hope they can spend Christmas at home. But it is too early to say.”
Greenpeace spokesman Aaron Gray-Block, referring to the jailed crew of a Greenpeace ship,
who hoped to be released after Russia’s parliament passed an amnesty bill Wednesday Article, this page
Attacks on pilgrims add to Iraq Shiite toll
BAGHDAD - Shiite Muslims on one of their most important pilgrimages in Iraq were targeted again Wednesday by gunmen and suicide bombers, medical sources and police said.
Many Shiites from Iraq and other countries are making their annual pilgrimage to the city of Karbala for Arbaeen, which marks the 40-day mourning period for Imam Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Muhammad.
On Wednesday, gunmen opened fire on a bus carrying Pakistani Shiites traveling from Samarra to Baghdad, killing three people and wounding 11, according to police and medical sources.
In Diyala province in northern Iraq, a policeman guarding Shiite pilgrims noticed a person he suspected was a suicide bomber trying to infiltrate the crowd, and when the officer grabbed hold of him, the attacker detonated his explosives, killing the officer and four other people, medical and security sources said.
In Anbar province in the west of the country, two policemen were killed when a suicide car bomber blew himself up at a checkpoint, a Ministry of Interior source said.
About 70 people were killed Monday in a series of attacks.
Nativity scenes moved at base in Cuba
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba - The commander of the Guantanamo Bay naval base decided Wednesday to move Nativity scenes from two dining halls after complaints that the decorations promoted Christianity.
Both Nativity scenes will be moved to the courtyard of the base’s chapel, said Kelly Wirfel, a spokesman for Capt.
John Nettleton, commander of the base in southeastern Cuba.
The displays were set up by foreign contractors who manage the two dining facilities and were “not intended to endorse any religion,” Wirfel said in response to concerns raised by the Military Religious Freedom Foundation.
The group, which advocates for religious freedom in the U.S. military, said earlier that it had been approached by 18 servicemen who felt the Nativity scenes and Christmas decorations were inappropriate and who were afraid that any direct appeal to commanders would be ignored or result in retribution.
Eleven of those who complained are Protestant or Roman Catholic and the rest are Muslim, Jewish, agnostic or atheist, he said.
U.S. adds $25 million in post-Haiyan aid
TACLOBAN, Philippines - Overwhelmed by the damage wrought by Typhoon Haiyan in a central Philippine city, U.S.
Secretary of State John Kerry announced nearly $25 million in additional aid Wednesday to help the country deal with the devastation.
Kerry flew to Tacloban city, where he saw what was left of entire towns wrecked by the storm’s winds and tsunamilike storm surges. He visited a food distribution center run by the U.S. Agency for International Development and government welfare officers, talked with officials and consoled survivors.
The new food aid, shelter materials, water and other supplies he announced for typhoon-lashed families bring the total U.S. assistance package to $86 million for one of its closest Asian allies.
One of the most ferocious typhoons to hit on record, Haiyan left more than 6,000 people dead and nearly 1,800 others missing. More than 4 million people were displaced, with about 101,000 remaining in 300 emergency shelters.
S. Sudan puts deaths in fighting at 500
JUBA, South Sudan - At least 500 people, most of them soldiers, have been killed in South Sudan since Sunday, a senior government official said, as an ethnic rivalry threatened to tear apart the world’s newest country.
The clashes apparently are pitting soldiers from the majority Dinka tribe of President Salva Kiir against those from ousted Vice President Riek Machar’s Nuer ethnic group, raising concerns the violence could degenerate into a civil war.
Fighting spread on Wednesday to Jonglei, the largest state in South Sudan, where troops loyal to Machar were said to be trying to take control of Bor, the state capital.
Front Section, Pages 6 on 12/19/2013