The world in brief

Monday, February 24, 2014

QUOTE OF THE DAY “Taliban are cancer for Pakistan.Taliban are cancer for the humanity.” Altaf Hussain, leader of the Karachi-based Muttahida Quami Movement, during an anti-Taliban rally expressing

solidarity with Pakistan’s forces amid violence in the area Article, 6AIsraeli forces slay U.S. killer in standoff

SHARON PRISON, Israel - Israeli special forces raided a prison in central Israel on Sunday, killing a prisoner who was serving time for a gruesome murder in the U.S.

Police identified the inmate as Samuel Sheinbein, an American who fled to Israel after murdering and dismembering another man in Maryland in 1997 and whose case prompted a high-profile row between the two allies.

Police special forces rushed to the prison after Sheinbein stole a weapon and shot three guards, wounding two of them seriously. He then barricaded himself inside the compound where a standoff ensued.

Sheinbein then opened fire again, wounding three more guards, before the forces shot him dead, said police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld.

Hospital officials said one of the wounded guards was fighting for his life. Police and the Israeli prison service have opened investigations. Sheinbein’s lawyers told Israeli TV that their client was under duress and that the Israeli prison service had ignored their warnings.

Sheinbein, 34, was tried in Israel in 1999, two years after he fled to the country and successfully sought refuge from extradition.

Bombers, gunmen kill 10 in Baghdad area

BAGHDAD - Militants launched separate attacks shortly after sunset Sunday near the Iraqi capital, killing at least 10 people, officials said.

The deadliest attack took place in the eastern Baghdad neighborhood Sadr City when a car bomb exploded in an outdoor market for secondhand motorcycles and bicycles, killing six civilians and wounding 21, a police officer said.

Another police officer said a bomb-laden motorcycle exploded in Baghdad’s northern Waziriyah neighborhood, killing three civilians and wounding 12.

Gunmen in a speeding car also attacked a police checkpoint in the nearby town of Tarmiyah, killing one and wounding three, authorities said.

Three medical officials confirmed the casualty figures.

Also Sunday, officials said a military helicopter crashed Saturday in a remote area west of the capital because of a technical failure, killing its four-member crew. A police officer confirmed the crash and the casualty figures.

All officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to journalists.

S. African decries Uganda’s anti-gay bill

JOHANNESBURG - South Africa’s retired Archbishop Desmond Tutu on Sunday made an impassioned plea to Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni not to sign into law the harsh Anti-Homosexuality Bill, which calls for a life sentence for some same-sex relations.

Tutu, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, said in a statement that Museveni a month ago had pledged not to allow the anti-gay legislation to become law in Uganda. But last week Museveni said he had reconsidered and would consult scientists on whether homosexuality is determined by genetics or by a person’s choice.

The Uganda Media Center said today that Museveni will sign the bill at 11 a.m. local time at his official residence.

Tutu said he is “disheartened” by Museveni’s new position, because there is “no scientific basis or genetic rationale for love. … There is no scientific justification for prejudice and discrimination, ever.”

Originally the bill called for the death penalty for some homosexual acts, but the maximum penalty was changed to life imprisonment for repeat offenders. The penalty for first-time offenders is 14 years in jail.

Pope tells new cardinals to ‘be saints’

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis on Sunday gave his new cardinals what amounted to a code of conduct: “no intrigue, gossip, power pacts, favoritism.”

Francis also urged the 19 men he elevated to cardinals Saturday to avoid behaving as if they were in a royal court.

During his homily in St. Peter’s Basilica, Francis told the cardinals to strive to “be saints.” To achieve that, he advised them to simply love those who are hostile to them, bless those who speak badly of them and “smile at those who perhaps don’t merit it.”

Francis is trying to overhaul a church hierarchy that has been criticized as arrogant, egotistical, petty and nasty.

Later Sunday, while making an address in St. Peter’s Square, Francis was interrupted by cheers and applause when he said that bishops, cardinals and the pope need to be “good servants, not good bosses” of God’s people.

Front Section, Pages 5 on 02/24/2014