LITTLE ROCK — QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Watch your words and your actions.
Take care not to get involved in coups and destabilizing adventures.” Nicolas Maduro,
Venezuela’s vice president, in a warning to government critics who objected to the indefinite postponement of President Hugo Chavez’s swearing-in Article, this pageProtesters evicted from West Bank site
JERUSALEM - Palestinian protesters who pitched tents at a strategic West Bank site to protest plans to build a Jewish housing project there were evicted early today, police said.
Spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said police evicted about 100 protesters from the site after a court decision authorizing their removal. He said no arrests were made during the half-hour operation.
Haaretz newspaper reported that the eviction was carried out despite a temporary High Court injunction preventing it.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday evening ordered roads closed leading to the area and had the military shut off access.
Palestinian activists erected tents in the area known as E-1 on Friday saying they wanted to “establish facts on the ground” to stop Israeli construction in the West Bank.
Rosenfeld, the police spokesman, said he did not know which court had allowed the eviction.
Ultra-Orthodox leader in Israeli hospital
JERUSALEM - The spiritual leader of an Israeli ultra-Orthodox political party was hospitalized after a suspected minor stroke in Jerusalem on Saturday, a development that could shake his party’s fortunes and mute one of Israel’s most influential voices.
Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, 92, is conscious and in a stable condition, Hadassah hospital spokesman Etti Dvir said, adding that doctors had requested he remain in the facility for several days for observation and further checks. She did not provide further details.
The enigmatic, Baghdad-born Yosef is the chief spiritual adviser of the Shas party, which represents Israeli Jews of Middle Eastern descent. His followers consider his decisions as binding religious law - rare discipline in Israel’s otherwise fragmented political landscape.
Israeli media reported he was rushed to Hadassah hospital after collapsing during morning prayers in a synagogue Saturday morning.
Dr. Yuval Weiss of Hadassah told reporters Saturday night that the rabbi “likely had a very mild stroke.”
“He is conscious and fully communicating with those around him,” Weiss said. “I hope he can return home in a few days,” he said.
Pakistani Shiites protest for 2nd day
QUETTA, Pakistan - About 3,500 Pakistani Shiites protested in southwestern Pakistan for a second day on Saturday, blocking a main road with dozens of coffins of relatives killed in explosions to demand better security from the government.
Police in the city of Quetta had earlier said the protest had ended, but a prominent Shiite leader, Ibrahim Hazara, said it would continue until the city was handed over to the army and the provincial government was dismissed.
Some 50 coffins blocked the road near a place where Shiites worship in Quetta, the capital of southwestern Baluchistan province. Shiites protested to condemn security lapses they say were responsible for Thursday’s twin bombings of a billiards hall that killed 86 people.
The dead included police, rescuers and journalists who rushed there in response to the first attack on the billiards hall, which was located in a predominantly Shiite area.
On Friday, Shiites laid about 50 of their dead on the street, saying they would not bury them until the government improved security. Islamic custom dictates that the dead be buried as soon possible.
Al-Maliki supporters rally in Baghdad
BAGHDAD - Shiite demonstrators took to the streets in Iraq’s capital Saturday to show support for Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s government, which has faced angry protests in Sunni provinces in a sign of growing sectarian tensions.
Under tight security measures, about 2,000 people took part in the rally held in downtown Baghdad, some holding pictures of the Shiite prime minister. They reject Sunni calls to abolish a tough anti-terrorism law and another law banning former members of the disbanded Baath party from holding government jobs.
Some of the protesters raised banners reading “The aim of Anbar protests is to divide Iraq,” and “We support al-Maliki.”
Members of Iraq’s Sunni minority, in the western province of Anbar and other Sunni parts of the country, have been holding large demonstrations for the past three weeks to protest what they call discrimination by the Shiite-led government.
Front Section, Pages 6 on 01/13/2013