LITTLE ROCK — QUOTE OF THE DAY “I have just seen all the
bodies, but I cannot
find my son. I don’t
know what to do.” Mamadou Sanogo, among the parents searching for children after a deadly stampede in Ivory Coast Article, this page
10 hurt resisting
Israeli arrest raid
TAMOUN, West Bank - An arrest raid by undercover Israeli soldiers disguised as vegetable vendors ignited rare clashes in the northern West Bank on Tuesday, residents said, leaving 10 Palestinians wounded.
Israeli army raids into Palestinian areas to seize activists and militants are fairly common. The raids are normally coordinated with Palestinian security forces, and suspects are usually apprehended without violence.
The clashes began early Tuesday after Israeli forces disguised as merchants in a vegetable truck arrested one man.
Israeli forces fired tear gas, rubber bullets and live ammunition as youths set tires and bins on fire to block the passage of military vehicles.
Four gunmen loot Paris Apple Store
PARIS - Masked and armed thieves used New Year’s Eve festivities to rob the flagship Apple Store in Paris.
The French press reported that up to $1.3 million in goods were stolen at the store selling products such as Apple’s iPhones and iPads behind the Paris Opera house, a figure police would not immediately confirm.
Police said Tuesday that the theft occurred about 9 p.m. Monday, three hours after closing, while police were deployed around the famed Champs-Elysees Avenue where revelers traditionally gather on New Year’s Eve.
Christophe Crepin of the Unsa police union said the “well prepared” operation was carried out by four masked and armed individuals.
The daily Le Parisien reported the thieves entered the store by threatening a security guard at a back entrance.
Protest opens new year in Hong Kong
HONG KONG - Tens of thousands of people marched in Hong Kong on the first day of 2013 to press for full democracy and to call for the city’s Beijingbacked leader to step down over allegations that he was untruthful about illegal renovations at his mansion.
Police said 26,000 people joined the march at its peak Tuesday, while organizers said 130,000 took part.
They carried banners and chanted slogans urging the leader, Leung Chun-ying, to resign. Some held signs depicting Leung as Pinocchio or with wolflike fangs, a play on Leung’s nickname, the wolf. One demonstrator was dressed as a wolf wearing a Communist Red Guard uniform, a reference to fears about Leung’s close ties to China’s leaders. Many waved Hong Kong’s British colonial-era flag.
In the evening, about 2,500 members of a small radical group briefly blocked several roads after they were stopped by authorities from marching to Leung’s official government residence. At one point, protesters pushed and shoved with police.
In a sign of the widening political divisions in the semiautonomous region 15 years after Britain handed control back to China, thousands of other Hong Kong residents joined a counter march in support of Leung by pro-government groups.
Organizers of that march said 60,000 people took part, while police put the number at 8,000.
Front Section, Pages 5 on 01/02/2013