QUOTE OF THE DAY

“We must act concertedly and now to avoid continued atrocities on a massive scale.”

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, speaking about Central African Republic, which the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said was being torn apart by “ethnic-religious cleansing” Article, this page

Ignoring U.S. protests, Afghans free 65

KABUL, Afghanistan - An Afghan official said the government has freed 65 suspected militants from a former U.S. prison despite protests from the American military. The U.S. has called the men “dangerous” fighters who will likely return to the battlefield to kill coalition and Afghan forces.

Prison spokesman Maj. Nimatullah Khaki said all 65 were freed this morning. He said they were laughing and smiling as they boarded a bus to leave the facility.

President Hamid Karzai ordered their release several weeks ago from the Parwan Detention Facility, drawing angry denunciations from the U.S. and straining relations between the two countries ahead of the year-end withdrawal of most international combat troops.

U.S. forces in Afghanistan say the men have the blood of international and Afghan soldiers on their hands and that the detainees are directly linked to attacks that have killed or wounded 32 U.S. or coalition personnel and 23 Afghan security personnel or civilians.

Russian environmentalist gets 3 years SOCHI, Russia - An environmentalist and critic of Russia’s preparations to host the 2014 Winter Olympics who was sentenced to 15 days in jail last week ostensibly for swearing in public was sentenced to three years in a penal colony Wednesday.

The more severe sentence for the activist, Yevgeny Vitishko, was handed down by an appeals court after the police alleged that Vitishko, co-author of a report on the environmental impact of the games, had violated the conditions of his parole for an earlier conviction related to his activism.

Vitishko is a researcher with a group, the Environmental Watch of the North Caucasus, that has studied the environmental consequences of the preparations for the Olympics and been under official pressure for years.

He was detained last week before traveling to Sochi, where the Olympic Games began last week and where he had intended to present a report on environmental damage.

That report was posted on the group’s website Wednesday.

U.S. stumbles in media-freedom ranking PARIS - Zealous efforts to protect national security have taken a toll on media freedom in the past year, above all in the United States, a media watchdog said Wednesday.

The United States ranked 46th among 180 countries in a media-freedom survey by Reporters Without Borders, falling 13 places from last year.

The report cited the U.S. reaction to documents leaked by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning, the U.S. Army soldier formerly known as Bradley Manning, as the prime reason for “one of the most significant declines” in media freedom. Manning is serving a 35-year sentence. Snowden fled to Russia.

“Freedom of information is too often sacrificed to an overly broad and abusive interpretation of national security needs,” the report said.

Armed conflict, a perennial problem, also plays a major role in restricting media efforts: Central African Republic, where a sectarian conflict has broken out, plunged farthest of all countries - 43 places to the 109th spot.

Finland, the Netherlands and Norway continue to top the ranking.

Demand rebuffed, rare Korea talks end

SEOUL, South Korea - The highest-level talks between the rival Koreas in years ended late Wednesday with little progress because of North Korea’s call for the delay of annual military drills by South Korea and the U.S. set for later this month, officials said.

Seoul officials said the meeting was requested by North Korea. Later this month, the two Koreas are to hold reunions of families separated since the 1950-53 Korean War. They would be the first such reunions in more than three years.

North Korea demanded that South Korea delay the annual military drills set to begin Feb. 24 with the United States until the end of the family reunions, which are scheduled to start Feb. 20 and end five days later, the statement said.

South Korea refused, saying it cannot link a purely humanitarian matter to a military issue.

Front Section, Pages 6 on 02/13/2014