QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Assad is the single biggest magnet for terrorists there is. He is a one-man supermagnet for terrorism.” U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry,
referring to President Bashar Assad of Syria, whom
Kerry said is responsible for the country’s influx of foreign extremists Article, this page
Explosion at Egyptian police post kills 2
CAIRO - A large explosion hit the Egyptian police headquarters in downtown Cairo early today, killing at least two people, the country’s state television reported.
The blast, which could be heard in several parts of the city, sent smoke rising above the Egyptian capital as ambulances rushed to the scene, the report said.
Health ministry spokesman Mohammed Fathallah told Egypt’s private CBC network that at least two people were killed and 40 were wounded.
The explosion came on the eve of the anniversary of the start of the 2011 uprising that toppled Egypt’s longtime autocratic ruler Hosni Mubarak.
A Muslim Brotherhood-led coalition plans protests after prayers today across the country as part of its near daily demonstrations against the July overthrow of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi and the recent vote on the country’s rewritten constitution.
State TV aired footage showing several wrecked and charred floors of the high-rise security building with the pavement outside littered with shattered glass, pieces of bricks and rocks.
According to the report, gunfire resounded from the area immediately after the blast, but there were no other details.
India-area elders said to order gang rape
KOLKATA, India - A 20-year-old Indian woman said she was gang-raped on the orders of a village council because she fell in love with a man from a different ethnic group, police said Thursday.
Twelve suspects and the head of the council were arrested in the Monday night attack, police said. The woman told police that she lost count of how many men raped her. She was hospitalized Thursday in serious condition.
TV news reports said the woman is a member of an ethnic tribal group and the man is a Muslim from a neighboring village. The man visited the woman’s village, Subalpur, on Monday to propose marriage but was caught by other villagers, and the man and woman were tied to a tree while the village council decided their fate, the reports said.
Police official C. Sudhakar said the village council ordered the man and woman to each pay a fine of $400. The man’s family was able to pay, but when the woman’s family said they were too poor, the council ordered the gang rape, police said.
Russian court frees ex-tycoon’s partner
MOSCOW - In harmony with President Vladimir Putin’s support of amnesties and pardons before the Winter Olympics, the Russian Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the business partner of the former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky should be released from prison.
Putin pardoned Khodorkovsky in December. The ruling regarding his business partner, Platon Lebedev, came when two months remained on a sentence of 10 years and eight months. The two businessmen were convicted of tax evasion and fraud in a case in 2005, and their sentences were extended in a second trial five years later.
With two weeks until the Olympics, Russian officials have been putting the finishing touches not only on winter sports venues but also on last-minute efforts to improve the country’s image during the games, including the release of political prisoners.
Roiled C. African Republic installs leader
BANGUI, Central African Republic - Interim President Catherine Samba-Panza urged fighters to put down their arms as she took the oath of office Thursday, even as looters pillaged Muslim neighborhoods and sectarian tensions escalated in the anarchic Central African Republic.
Samba-Panza, the nation’s first female leader, was sworn in at a ceremony days after being chosen by a national transitional council. The rebel leader behind the March 2013 coup stepped aside nearly two weeks ago under mounting international criticism of his inability to control his fighters and stem the violence.
In her inaugural address, Samba-Panza urged both the Muslim fighters behind the coup and the Christian militiamen who rose up in opposition to support peace.
Yet even in the hours leading up to her inauguration, tensions flared across Bangui. Hundreds of Christians looted and set fire to Muslim-owned homes and businesses Wednesday and threatened to go on a killing rampage.
Front Section, Pages 8 on 01/24/2014