QUOTE OF THE DAY
“It is clear that the crisis of Syria is growing, not diminishing. It has gotten worse, dramatically worse.”
Secretary of State John Kerry, after announcing President Barack Obama had asked aides to consider new policies to address the escalating humanitarian crisis in Syria Article, 7A
Italian premier resigns after party vote
ROME - Prime Minister Enrico Letta of Italy resigned Friday, the day after his Democratic Party voted to replace him with the party’s new leader, Matteo Renzi, the 39-yearold mayor of Florence.
Shortly before meeting with President Giorgio Napolitano to formally relinquish his post, Letta sent out his thanks to his supporters, adding, “Every day as if it were the last one.” It was a reference to the many hurdles he faced over the past 10 months as the head of a coalition government of traditionally antagonistic political parties cobbled together after inconclusive elections last year.
The coalition’s perceived limitations, especially its inability to draft economic legislation, gave impetus to the Democratic Party’s demands for change.
After accepting Letta’s resignation, Napolitano said he would consult with political party leaders Friday and today to evaluate his options. But Napolitano has made clear that he does not intend to call new elections until changes are made to Italy’s electoral law, which many blame for producing the impasse that has marked Italian politics in recent years.
A story in Friday’s editions based on a New York Times report incorrectly said that Letta resigned Thursday.
Police shoot, kill 8 in restive China area
HONG KONG - Police in Xinjiang, the ethnically divided region in far western China, fatally shot eight people Friday after what the state-run news media described as an attack by assailants armed with bombs made from gas cylinders. Three other attackers died in an explosion they set off, the reports said.
The official accounts did not identify the bombers, but it was likely they were Uighurs, a Turkic people who have grown increasingly resentful of the growing numbers of ethnic Han Chinese in the region and of state controls on their culture and Muslim religion. The accounts called the assailants terrorists, as have many previous official reports describing clashes with Uighurs.
The violence broke out in Wushi County, in Aksu prefecture, when people riding motorbikes and a person driving a car loaded with natural-gas cylinders bore down on police officers preparing to go on patrol, according Xinhua, the state run news agency.
The attackers also used knives, according to Tianshan Net, an official Xinjiang news portal.
Two police officers were wounded, as were two civilians, the report said.
Why copter hit Scots’ pub: Engines failed
LONDON - A police helicopter that plummeted into a Scottish pub in November, killing 10 people, suffered failure of both its engines from an as-yet-undetermined cause, investigators of the accident said Friday.
The chopper still had plenty of fuel when its engines suddenly cut out in the skies above Glasgow on Nov. 29. The helicopter then plunged hundreds of feet, crashing through the roof of the Clutha Vaults pub on the banks of the River Clyde.
All three people aboard the Eurocopter EC135 T2 - two police officers and the civilian pilot - were killed, as were seven people in the bar. More than 30 others were injured.
A preliminary report issued Friday by Britain’s Air Accidents Investigation Branch said the helicopter had been in the air for a little more than an hour and a half when the pilot made a standard request for permission to return to Glasgow City Heliport, which was granted. But a few minutes later, the right engine of the chopper “flamed out,” followed shortly by the left engine.
Blasts hit Bahrain police as date is marked
MANAMA, Bahrain - Explosions targeted police in Bahrain on Friday as clashes between security forces and anti-government protesters on the third anniversary of the Persian Gulf nation’s uprising left dozens wounded, authorities and activists said.
Efforts to restart on-and-off reconciliation talks between the Shiite-dominated opposition and the Sunni monarchy and its allies have so far failed to bring an end to the unrest.
Mohammed al-Maskati, the president of the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights, said his group recorded 38 protesters injured in clashes since Thursday evening.
Government forces also reported casualties. An explosion struck a minibus carrying police Friday evening in Dih, the Ministry of Interior said on its official Twitter feed. Dih is a mainly Shiite village just west of Manama.
A ministry official near the scene of the blast told reporters that three police officers were injured in the explosion.
Another explosion injured two police officers in Dair, according to the Interior Ministry.
Front Section, Pages 6 on 02/15/2014