LITTLE ROCK — QUOTE OF THE DAY "There are probably easier foreign-policy tasks to take on than the Israeli-Palestinian conflict." Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, dismissing suggestions that a forthcoming peace conference was a political ploy by the Bush administration Article, this page
Keep seeking liberty, Bush urges Cubans
WASHINGTON - President Bush said the Castro regime in Cuba is fighting against a tide of freedom in Latin America, and the international community has an obligation to assist and support pro-democracy forces.
In an address that was broadcast to Cuba, Bush urged Cubans to continue pressing for more freedom and called on Cuba's armed forces and police to not defend the regime "when Cubans rise up to demand their liberty."
"Calls for fundamental change are growing across the island," Bush said Wednesday at the State Department in Washington.
People there "hear the dying gasps of a failed regime."
The president urged Congress to maintain the 45-year-old U.S.
trade embargo on Cuba's regime "until it changes."
Cuban President Fidel Castro, 81, is recuperating from surgery.
His health has been a subject of speculation since he handed over daily tasks to his brother Raul in July 2006.
Cuba's foreign minister, Felipe Perez Roque, called Bush's remarks a "threat" and said the Cubans won't be intimidated.
Inquiry vindicates Taser use on student
GAINESVILLE, Fla. - University of Florida police were justified in using a Taser against a student who refused to stop questioning Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., on campus last month, according to a state investigation released Wednesday.
Some had questioned the use of force in using the stun gun against student Andrew Meyer, leading to the investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. A summary of the agency's report was released Wednesday.
"In short, the [Florida Department of Law Enforcement] determined that our officers acted well within state guidelines," university President Bernie Machen said in a letter to students, the faculty and the staff.
Two officers who were placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation were reinstated Wednesday, Machen said.
Rob Griscti, Meyer's attorney, said he couldn't comment on the report with a criminal case still pending.
The scuffle between Meyer and police started during the Sept.
17 speech by Kerry when Meyer refused to leave the microphone after his allotted time was up, police said. Meyer has been charged by police for resisting an officer and disturbing the peace, but the state attorney's office has not yet decided whether to file formal charges.
Senate confirms judge for appeals court
WASHINGTON - The Senate on Wednesday confirmed President Bush's choice for the federal appeals court that handles cases from Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas.
By 59-38, the Senate confirmed Judge Leslie H. Southwick to a seat on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals despite complaints from some Democrats that he is not committed to racial equality. Nominations to that court are often sensitive because of the region's history of racial discrimination.
Southwick was nominated in January to fill the seat vacated by Charles W. Pickering. Pickering was unable to win Senate confirmation, so Bush appointed him to a temporary term that expired in December 2004.
Southwick's critics have pointed to some of his decisions as a Mississippi state appeals court judge. In one case, he upheld the reinstatement with back pay of a white state employee who had used a racial epithet about another worker; in another, he joined a majority opinion that denied a bisexual mother custody of her child.
But Southwick's supporters have said he is eminently qualified, intellectually and personally. He served on the Mississippi Court of Appeals from January 1995 through December 2006. He is now a visiting professor at the Mississippi College School of Law.
One wounded after gun fires in class
MEMPHIS - A teenager who brought a gun to school planning to sell it accidentally fired the pistol in a Manassas High School classroom Wednesday, wounding another student's arm, police said.
Markees Smith, 15, was charged with aggravated assault, reckless endangerment and carrying a gun on school property, police Lt. Joe Scott said. Smith was turned over to Juvenile Court authorities.
A court official who refused to give her name said she could not provide any information about Smith or whether he had an attorney.
The wounded student was treated at the Regional Medical Center at Memphis and sent home. The 16-year-old male was described by police as a friend of Smith's.
Front Section, Pages 4 on 10/25/2007