QUOTE OF THE DAY “Don’t let any of the incidents happening now affect the will of Egyptians. Never.”
Egyptian military chief Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, addressing military graduates Article, 1ARussia OKs exit for 14 in Greenpeace
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia - Russian authorities issued exit visas to 14 of the 30 Greenpeace members on Thursday, which will allow them to leave the country after charges were dropped against them over a protest outside an Arctic oil rig.
Greenpeace said other foreign members of the crew were expected to get exit visas today and that the first of the detained activists, Dmitri Litvinov of Sweden, boarded a train heading for Finland late Thursday.
The 30 people were arrested in September after a protest outside a Russian oil rig in the Arctic and spent two months in jail before they were granted bail in November.
Hooliganism charges against the crew were later dropped after Russia’s parliament passed an amnesty law that was seen as an attempt by the Kremlin to assuage the criticism of Russia’s human-rights record before the Winter Olympics in Sochi in February.
Greenpeace said Anthony Perrett of Britain was the first to get the visa in his passport Thursday.
Brazil dispatches troops to flood zone
SAO PAULO - Army troops were deployed in Espirito Santo state on Thursday to help distribute food, water and medicine to victims of the floods and mudslides that have punished southeastern Brazil for more than 10 days, killing at least 39 people.
The G1 news portal cited an army major as saying that 170 troops were sent to Espirito Santo from neighboring Rio de Janeiro state.
Army engineers were expected to arrive later Thursday to help repair highways, roads and bridges damaged by the floods. Calls to the army for more details went unanswered.
Espirito Santo’s civil-defense department said on its website that 21 people have died in mudslides or floodwaters and that more than 60,000 were driven from their homes and forced to seek shelter in public buildings or the homes of friends and relatives.
In neighboring Minas Gerais state, floods and mudslides have killed 18 people and about 4,000 people have been forced to leave their homes.
Arafat’s death natural, Russia finds
MOSCOW - A Russian probe into the death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has found that his death wasn’t caused by radiation - a finding that comes after a French probe found traces of the radioactive isotope polonium and a Swiss investigation said the time frame of his illness and death was consistent with that of polonium poisoning.
Vladimir Uiba, the head of the Federal Medical and Biological Agency, said Thursday that Arafat died of natural causes and the agency had no plans to conduct further tests.
Teams of scientists from France, Switzerland and Russia were asked to determine whether polonium, a rare and lethal substance, played a role in Arafat’s death in a French military hospital in 2004.
French experts found traces of polonium but said it was “of natural environmental origin,” according to Arafat’s widow, Suha Arafat. Swiss scientists, meanwhile, said they found elevated traces of polonium-210 and lead, and that the time frame of Arafat’s illness and death was consistent with poisoning from ingesting polonium.
“It was a natural death; there was no impact of radiation,” Uiba said, according to Russian news agencies.
Palestinians have long suspected Israel of poisoning Arafat, which Israel denies. Russia, meanwhile, has had strong ties with Palestinian authorities since Soviet times when Moscow supported their struggle.
French leader’s gate hit; driver held
PARIS - A 67-year-old driver tried to ram through a gate of the French presidential palace on Thursday, officials said.
He was arrested and treated for light injuries.
The reason for the man’s unusual actions is unclear.
French President Francois Hollande’s office did not comment on the disturbance at Elysee Palace, except to say that the president was in his office at the time and working as usual.
The driver was at moderate speed when he approached the palace, and the car tapped the gilded gates before it was stopped by presidential guards, according to a judicial official.
She described the suspect as an Italian citizen, but could not confirm French press reports that he is a theater director angry over cuts to cultural subsidies.
He was taken to Paris’ Georges Pompidou Hospital for “very light injuries,” the official said. No one else was hurt.
The man faces possible charges of putting others’ lives in danger, degrading public property, and voluntary armed violence because he tried to use his car as a weapon, the official said.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to speak publicly about judicial matters.
Front Section, Pages 6 on 12/27/2013