The world in brief

— QUOTE OF THE DAY

“These manuscripts are irreplaceable. They have the wisdom of the ages, and it’s the most important find since the Dead Sea Scrolls.”

Michael Covitt, chairman of the Malian Manuscript Foundation, on the burning by Islamist rebels of a Timbuktu library that held thousands of manuscripts dating to the Middle Ages Article, 1A

Iran monkey mission a step toward space

TEHRAN, Iran - A gray tufted monkey strapped in a pod resembling an infant’s car seat rode an Iranian rocket into space and returned safely, officials said Monday in what was described as a step toward Tehran’s goal of a manned space flight.

The mission also touched on concerns that advances in Iran’s rocket expertise could be channeled into military use for long-range weapons that might one day carry nuclear warheads. Iran has said it does not seek atomic weapons.

U.S. State Department spokesman Victoria Nuland said the U.S. had no way to confirm the monkey’s voyage, but that it was concerned by the reports because “any space launch vehicle capable of placing an object in orbit is directly relevant to the development of long-range ballistic missiles.”

Prince to become 1st Dutch king in century

FRANKFURT - Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands will abdicate this year and be succeeded by her eldest son, Crown Prince Willem-Alexander, who will become the country’s first king in more than a century.

Beatrix, who turns 75 on Thursday, will cede the Dutch throne to Willem-Alexander on April 30, she said in a televised address to the nation from her Huis ten Bosch palace in The Hague on Monday. Beatrix succeeded her mother, Queen Juliana, when she abdicated in 1980.

Willem-Alexander, 45, married Argentina’s Maxima Zorreguieta, 42, a former investment banker, in 2002 and has three daughters.

He will be known as King Willem-Alexander, the government’s information office said, making him the first monarch to bear the name. The Netherlands has had female heads of state since King Willem III died in 1890. Juliana’s mother, Wilhelmina, also gave up the throne in 1948.

Raul Castro to lead bloc of area nations

SANTIAGO, Chile - Cuban President Raul Castro assumed the presidency of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States on Monday in a demonstration of regional unity against U.S. efforts to isolate the communist government through a 50-year-old economic embargo.

Castro was warmly welcomed by his colleagues as he spoke Monday at the closing ceremony of the bloc’s meeting in Santiago, taking over the rotating presidency from Chile.

He described what he called “a common vision for the Latin American and Caribbean homeland,” saying the bloc “joins the 33 independent nations of our America to build a space for national sovereignty and encourage integration.”

Castro said Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez had helped realize South American independence hero Simon Bolivar’s dream of unifying the region by negotiating the creation of the bloc in December 2011.

Front Section, Pages 5 on 01/29/2013

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