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— QUOTE OF THE DAY

“People started tumbling over one another and within no time I saw people, particularly women and children, being trampled over by others.”

Shushanto Kumar Sen, who was waiting to board a train in Allahabad, India, when a deadly stampede broke out Article, 2A

List aims to ease Hamas-Fatah rift

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - The Palestinian election commission began updating voter registration lists in the West Bank and Gaza Strip on Monday, paving the way for new elections in a step toward reconciliation between rival Fatah and Hamas governments.

The commission opened more than 600 registration offices, mostly in schools. The election commission said voter registration would continue until Feb. 18.

It was the first time the commission updated voter records in Gaza in seven years, underscoring the event’s gravity for Palestinians, who have seen elections repeatedly delayed because of fighting between the rival groups.

Hamas and Fatah officials had authorized the commission to update voter records to prepare for elections, a key part of any reconciliation effort.

Still, while Palestinian law requires elections to be held within three months of completing the registration drive, no date has been set for voting.

Heed Sunni woes, U.N. urges Iraqis

BAGHDAD - Iraq’s Shiite-led government should do more to address complaints by the country’s disaffected Sunni minority about human-rights violations and lack of due process, the United Nations envoy to the country said in an interview Monday.

Sunnis have staged mass rallies in recent weeks to protest what they see as unfair treatment of their sect by the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite accused by critics of monopolizing power.

Sunni protesters say they are being targeted unfairly by the government and that vague anti-terrorism laws are being used to detain Sunnis arbitrarily. They have called for a release of prisoners, an investigation of purported human rights abuses in prisons and ending the practice of holding wives of terror suspects.

Martin Kobler, the U.N. envoy to Iraq, said that while he believes the head of the committee, Deputy Prime Minister Hussain al-Shahristani, is taking the Sunni concerns seriously, “there is more the government could do” to deal with the protesters’ demands.

The envoy said that while the U.N. does not deal with Sunni political demands, protesters’ complaints about human-rights violations are of concern.

N. Korea conducts 3rd test of a nuke

PYONGYANG, North Korea - North Korea says it has tested a “miniaturized” nuclear device in defiance of U.N.

orders to stop building atomic weapons.

Official state media reported early today that it was conducted in a safe manner.

This third nuclear test could take North Korea closer to its goal of building a nuclear warhead small enough to be mounted on a long-range missile.

Earlier, earthquake-monitoring agencies around the globe detected an “explosionlike” earthquake that appeared to be unnatural.

South Korean, U.S. and Japanese seismic monitoring agencies put the magnitude of today’s quake between 4.9 and 5.2.

The U.N. Security Council recently punished Pyongyang for launching a long-range rocket seen as a covert test of ballistic missile technology. In condemning that December rocket launch and imposing more sanctions on Pyongyang, the council had demanded a stop to future launches and ordered North Korea to respect a ban on nuclear activity.

Kim Min-seok, a South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman, told reporters that North Korea informed China and the United States of its plans to conduct a nuclear test. It was not clear when Pyongyang told Beijing and Washington.

In Washington, the White House had no immediate comment on the developments.

2 die, dozens hurt in Yemen clashes

ADEN, Yemen - Security officials said two people were killed and dozens wounded in clashes between Islamists and separatists in southern Yemen, as tens of thousands protested in the capital to mark the second anniversary of the nation’s uprising.

Members of the Islamist Islah party and southerners calling for independence fought in Aden during a protest marking the start of the uprising that ousted longtime autocrat Ali Abdullah Saleh. Security officials said both sides fired live ammunition at each other, killing a bystander and a 25-year-old separatist.

Protesters nationwide took to the streets Monday to demand Saleh be tried for the killing of protesters during the uprising against his rule.

Front Section, Pages 7 on 02/12/2013

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