LITTLE ROCK — QUOTE OF THE DAY
“I am going to be 82 years old. I have the right to retire, don’t you think?”
Cuban President Raul Castro, who is to be named to a new five-year term, in informal remarks during an appearance Article, this page
India probes dual blasts fatal to 16
HYDERABAD, India - Indian police are investigating whether an Islamic militant group was responsible for a dual bomb attack that killed 16 people outside a movie theater and a bus station in the southern city of Hyderabad, a police official said Friday.
The group, the Indian Mujahideen, is thought to have links with militants in neighboring Pakistan. India’s recent execution of an Islamic militant is being examined as a possible motive for the bombings, said the official, an investigator who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to reveal details of the probe.
Police have not detained anyone in connection with Thursday evening’s attacks, the first major terror bombings in India since 2011.
According to a New Delhi police report, two suspected Indian Mujahideen militants who were arrested last year said during questioning that they had done reconnaissance of Dilsukh Nagar, the Hyderabad district where the blasts occurred.
They had also visited various spots in New Delhi, Mumbai and Pune.
Head Tunisia party picks new premier
TUNIS, Tunisia - Tunisia’s ruling Islamist party has chosen an interior minister seen as a hard-liner to form a new government, a top official said Friday.
The Ennahda party named Ali Larayedh to take over after Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali resigned, when it rejected his proposal to form an apolitical government of technocrats.
Larayedh, who has been widely criticized by the opposition for failing to ensure stability, is believed to come from the wing of the party that has been less willing to compromise with secular parties.
The party chose Larayedh, 57, in an overnight meeting, and he will be presented to President Moncef Marzouki later Friday, Moadh Ghannouchi, the son of Ennahda’s leader, told The Associated Press.
Copter attacked after Papua killings
JAYAPURA, Indonesia - Gunmen shot at an Indonesian military helicopter in the restive province of Papua on Friday as the crew was trying to evacuate the bodies of eight soldiers killed in attacks a day earlier.
Three crew members were wounded in Friday’s attack on the Super Puma helicopter, which was forced to abort its mission and rush the injured to a hospital, said Lt. Col. Jansen Simanjuntak, an army spokesman.
Eight soldiers and four civilians were killed in two separate attacks in the area Thursday.
The area is a stronghold of separatists who have battled Indonesian rule in the impoverished region for more than 40 years.
In the deadliest attack Thursday, about 20 assailants armed with guns and machetes attacked a group of soldiers walking to an airport in Puncak district to collect communications equipment, killing seven, Simanjuntak said.
Col. Agus Rianto, a national police spokesman, said Friday that four civilians were killed.
That attack came shortly after gunmen stormed an army post in a village in neighboring Puncak Jaya district and fatally shot one soldier and injured another before fleeing into the jungle, Simanjuntak said.
Indonesian military spokesman Rear Adm. Iskandar Sitompul said the same group was responsible for both attacks.
Storm swamps Athens; driver dies
ATHENS, Greece - Torrential rainfall in Greece’s capital Friday crippled traffic, inundated basements and streets, and was blamed for the death of a woman whose car was trapped in floodwater, authorities said.
The overnight storm swept across greater Athens, flooding hundreds of homes, causing blackouts in parts of the city and forcing authorities to close major roads and a central subway station in Athens.
“We have many, many problems - it’s hard to know where to begin describing it,” Deputy Fire Chief Vassilis Papageorgiou said.
“We have more than 60 crews working to get people out of stranded vehicles.”
Police closed underpasses and highways in low-lying parts of the city after they were submerged, and parked cars were swept away by racing waters.
Front Section, Pages 6 on 02/23/2013