The world in brief

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“I committed a sin punishable by death. … I am at a loss for words. I am sorry. I am sorry.”

Kim Han-sik, president of Chonghaejin Marine Co., the owner of the South Korean ferry that sank Wednesday and left scores of passengers missing Article, 1A

Principal denies claim Nigeria girls freed

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria - The fate of more than 100 female students abducted by Islamic extremists was thrown into uncertainty Thursday when their school principal denied the Nigerian military’s report that almost all the pupils had been freed.

The principal, Asabe Kwambura said Thursday that only 14 of the 129 girls and young women kidnapped by gunmen before dawn Tuesday had returned to Chibok town - four who jumped from the back of a truck and 10 who escaped into the bush when their abductors asked them to cook a meal.

The principal directly contradicted Maj. Gen. Chris Olukolade, the Defense Ministry spokesman, who said in a statement late Wednesday that Kwambura had confirmed that all but eight of the students had been accounted for.

On Thursday night, Olukolade said the military was retracting its statement, which he said had been based on a field report indicating “a major breakthrough.”

Later Thursday, the education commissioner of Borno state, Musa Inuwo Kubo, said six more girls had escaped their captors, raising to 20 the number who were free. A search continued for the others.

Iran said to cut 20%-uranium stockpile

VIENNA - Iran has converted three-quarters of a nuclear stockpile that it could have turned quickly into weapons-grade uranium into less-volatile forms and is well on the way toward transforming the rest, the United Nations atomic agency reported Thursday.

The development - agreed to by Iran under a nuclear deal it struck late last year with six world powers - leaves Tehran with substantially less of the 20 percent-enriched uranium that it would need for a nuclear warhead.

Iran denies any interest in atomic arms, but it agreed to some nuclear concessions in exchange for a partial lifting of economic sanctions under the deal.

Uranium at 20 percent is only a technical step away from weapons-grade material. By the time the agreement was reached late last year, Iran had amassed nearly 440 pounds.

With further enrichment, that would have yielded almost enough weapons-grade uranium for one atomic weapon.

S. Sudan mob targets refugees at base

JUBA, South Sudan - An angry mob of South Sudanese youths attacked a United Nations base Thursday to harm members of an ethnic minority group inside. Peacekeepers were forced to open fire as the rampage killed at least 12 people, officials said.

The attackers forced their way into a camp in Bor in Jonglei state where some 5,000 ethnic Nuers have sought safety since fighting in South Sudan broke out in mid-December.

“The assailants, a mob of armed civilians, came to the base under the guise of peaceful demonstrators intending to present a petition … The armed mob forced entry on to the site and opened fire on the internally displaced persons sheltering inside the base,” U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said at U.N. headquarters in New York.

Maj. Major Kuol Mayen Deng of South Sudan’s military said Ugandan troops stationed in the region are now protecting the U.N. base. Deng said at least 12 people were killed.

In a statement late Thursday, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, said at least 20 civilians were killed and more than 70 injured in the “brazen, inhuman” attack.

Militants kill 10 soldiers on Iraqi base

BAGHDAD - Militants launched a brazen attack on a military base Thursday in a restive area in northern Iraq, killing at least 10 soldiers and wounding 12, officials said.

The morning attack at the base outside Mosul, about 225 miles northwest of Baghdad, started with a suicide bomber who detonated his truck packed with explosives at the gates of the facility, an army officer and police officer said.

Gunmen then opened fire from apparently commandeered military Humvees and a shootout began. At least 10 troops were killed and 12 were wounded, the officials said. Eight militants also were killed in the fighting.

A medical official confirmed the casualty figures.

Front Section, Pages 6 on 04/18/2014

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