QUOTE OF THE DAY “My concern is that
it can go on for a long time, as in many, many months to multiple years.And the civilian casualties, the enormous flow of refugees and the dislocation and so forth and the human suffering associated with it will only increase in time.” David Shedd, No. 2 in the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency, speaking in Colorado on the Syrian civil war that he said was now likely to continue for years, whatever Syrian President Bashar Assad’s fate Article, this page6.6 quake kills 20 in western China
BEIJING - A strong earthquake struck a moderately populated part of western China this morning, killing at least 20 people and injuring 296, according to the local government.
A Chinese earthquake monitoring center said the magnitude-6.6 quake hit about 7:45 a.m. local time near the city of Dingxi in Gansu province, a region of mountains, desert and pastureland with a population of 26 million. That makes it one of China’s more lightly populated provinces, although the Dingxi area has a greater concentration of farms and towns with a total population of about 2.7 million.
Residents described shaking windows and swinging lights but little major damage and little panic. Shaking was felt in the provincial capital of Lanzhou 110 miles north and as far away as Xi’an 250 miles to the east.
The quake was shallow, which can be more destructive. Dingxi is about 766 miles west of Beijing.
Veil ban in France prompts violence
TRAPPES, France - Riot police patrolled Sunday in suburbs west of Paris that have seen cars torched and a police station attacked amid tensions linked to authorities’ handling of France’s ban on Muslim veils.
Some 20 cars were set ablaze overnight and four people were detained in a second night of violence, officials said Sunday.
The violence began Friday after residents gathered at the police station to protest the arrest of a man whose wife was ticketed Thursday for wearing a veil. The regional prosecutor said the husband tried to strangle the officer who was doing the ticketing.
France has barred veils since 2011. Proponents of the ban argue the veil oppresses women and contradicts France’s principles of secularism, which are enshrined in the constitution. The ban affects only a very small minority of French Muslims, but some say it feeds discrimination against moderate Muslims, too.
Pakistan offers to help Afghan talks
KABUL, Afghanistan - Pakistan is willing to help jump-start long-stalled peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban to try to end the more than 12-year war in Afghanistan if the parties request Islamabad’s help, a senior Pakistani official said Sunday.
Sartaj Aziz, a special adviser on national security and foreign affairs, spoke during a one-day visit to Afghanistan aimed at mending relations between the two neighbors.
Ties have been strained over Kabul’s perception that Pakistan has been supporting the Taliban as well as trying to obstruct peace talks.
Aziz said Pakistan had helped persuade some Taliban factions to discuss peace in the past.
Front Section, Pages 4 on 07/22/2013