The world in brief

Sunday, February 23, 2014

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“This is a rich country and we can’t even buy a kilo of flour, a rich country but we live in misery.”

Marta Rivas, 39, a mother of two, on difficulties Venezuelans face amid violence and shortages as she joined thousands of protesters in the opposition stronghold city of San Cristobal Article, this page

Renzi sworn in as Italy’s prime minister

ROME - Matteo Renzi became Italy’s youngest premier on Saturday, promising a new era of stable government after using old-school politicking to engineer the ouster of a fellow Democrat he deemed too timid to get the nation back to work.

The unabashedly ambitious Renzi, 39, quit his post as Florence mayor to take up his first national government job, insisting Italy’s political leadership needed to be bolder. He tweeted before being sworn in that it will be “tough” but “we’ll do it.”

The Italian economy is only just beginning to show signs of rebounding after several years of stagnation. Youth unemployment hovers around 40 percent.

The new environment minister, Gian Luca Galletti, told Sky TG24 TV that the down-to-business premier conducted his first Cabinet meeting “more like a board meeting.”

Renzi has alienated some factions in his own party because of the steely determination he used to dispatch predecessor Enrico Letta only days after publicly saying he would only seek the premiership through general elections.

The usually easy-going Letta gave Renzi a chilly, limp handshake during a brief handover ceremony Saturday. Renzi forced a wan smile. Neither Democrat looked each other in the eyes.

U.S., China military exchange in works

BEIJING - A top U.S. military commander said Saturday that the U.S. Army was working to start a formal dialogue and exchange program with the Chinese People’s Liberation Army before the end of the year.

The commander, Gen. Raymond Odierno, the U.S. Army chief of staff, said at a news conference in Beijing that the program was aimed at expanding cooperation and “managing differences constructively.”

Odierno made his remarks at the U.S. Embassy during the second day of a visit to China.

The general said the formal dialogue between U.S. and Chinese army officials would include discussions of humanitarian relief, disaster management and peacekeeping operations. The two armies could have exchanges at institutional levels like that of training and doctrine commands, he said.

A date for the first formal meeting in the program has not been set, but the general said some officials who had gone to China with him would stay to work on details. Odierno said he hoped a date would be set during an expected visit to China in April by U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel.

Police verdict seen as omen for Mubarak

CAIRO - An Egyptian court acquitted six police officers Saturday on charges of killing 83 protesters during the country’s 2011 uprising, something rights activists say will likely allow toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak to walk free on similar charges.

It’s the last case in a string of acquittals for nearly 100 officers charged in the killings of more than 840 demonstrators during the 18-day revolt.

“The sequence of events show that Mubarak will most probably get acquitted,” said human-rights lawyer Mohsen el-Bahnasi, who also represents the families of 83 protesters killed in Alexandria.

Mubarak and his top security official Habib el-Adly were sentenced to life imprisonment in June 2012 before a court overturned the verdict on appeal. They also face a retrial with others for failing to stop killings of protesters.

8 police hurt quelling French anarchists

PARIS - Riot police moved into the western French city of Nantes on Saturday, clashing with hundreds of anarchists who broke shop windows, destroyed bus stops and pillaged the city center.

At least eight police officers were hospitalized after violent confrontations with up to 1,000 “radicals,” the prefecture of the Loire-Atlantique region said. Fourteen people were detained.

The rioters had joined an estimated 20,000 people protesting plans to build a regional airport. Officials did not say whether protesters were injured.

Interior Minister Manuel Valls said the rioters were from the “radicalized ultra left” and were waging an “urban guerrilla” campaign.

Police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse the attackers, some wearing hoods and helmets. However, after night fall, approximately 200 were reportedly still roaming the Nantes city center.

Front Section, Pages 6 on 02/23/2014