LITTLE ROCK — QUOTE OF THE DAY "We are still confronting the remnants of a dictatorship and terrorism by those who want to hurt Iraq."
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki,
on the political void left by the Wednesday death of Shiite leader Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim Article, 7A
Ex-terrorist arrested in German slayings
BERLIN - Using new DNA evidence, police have arrested a former German leftist terrorist on suspicion of involvement in the 1977 slaying of West Germany's federal prosecutor and two other people, authorities said Friday.
Federal prosecutors said in a statement that Verena Becker, now 57, was arrested at her Berlin apartment Thursday. Becker, a former member of the left-wing Red Army Faction, or RAF, who was pardoned by the nation's president in 1989, is now believed to have played a role in the fatal ambush on prosecutor Siegfried Buback, prosecutors said.
"The attack, which [also] claimed the life of Buback's driver, Wolfgang Goebel, and the guard Georg Wurster was part of the RAF's series of assaults known as 'Offensive 77' that a core group of RAF members planned in 1977," prosecutors said. "Verena Becker, who belonged to this group, is believed to have made considerable contributions to the planning and carrying out of the April 7, 1977 attack."
Becker was arrested a month after the ambush. Prosecutors at the time did not have enough evidence to try her on charges of involvement in the Buback slaying, but convicted her of armed robbery and attempted murder stemming from a shootout with police before her arrest. She was sentenced to life in prison.
2 Chechen militants blow themselves up
ROSTOV-ON-DON, Russia - Chechnya was hit Friday by the third suicide bombing in a week, part of a rising wave of violence in Russia's predominantly Muslim southern republics that appears to have alarmed the Kremlin.
President Dmitry Medvedev gathered the region's political and religious leaders Friday at his residence in Sochi on the Black Sea to discuss ways to stop young men from joining the rebels.
Medvedev encouraged the regional leaders to offer educational programs and activities.
He said Russia should exercise control over citizens who want to study at Islamic universities abroad, and he called for more active promotion in Russia of what he termed true Islamic values in an effort to counter Web sites promoting radical Islam.
In the latest suicide bombing, two Chechen militants blew themselves up to escape capture, wounding three policemen and three civilians in the process, Chechen Interior Ministry spokesman Magomed Deniyev said.
They were on a federal wanted list and police had trapped them inside a house in the town of Shali, he said. When police demanded they give themselves up, the militants opened fire and then set off explosives attached to their bodies, the spokesman said.
Black box from Yemen airliner crash found
MORONI, Comoros - Investigators on Friday retrieved the slightly damaged flight data recorder and 10 more bodies from a Yemenia Airways flight that crashed into the Indian Ocean on June 30, officials said.
The black box was found underwater off the coast of the island nation's capital, Moroni, according to the Comoros-based aviation investigation team. No details were provided about the other black box containing the voice recorder.
Yemenia Flight 626 crashed en route from Paris to Moroni via Yemen, killing 152 people. One teenage girl survived and is back home outside Paris.
Interior Minister Bourhane Hamidou said the black box found Friday is slightly damaged.
Red Cross coordinator Abdourhamane Bacari said 10 more bodies were found on the seafloor in addition to the 27 bodies already recovered.
Court: Lift curbs on Pakistani scientist
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - A Pakistani court Friday ordered the government to lift any remaining restrictions on a scientist alleged to have spread nuclear technology to Iran, North Korea and Libya, his lawyer said.
The interim instruction came in response to a petition filed by scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan. The United States still regards him as a proliferation risk.
Khan's lawyer, Ali Zafar, said the Lahore High Court observed that "nobody can restrict the movement of A.Q. Khan given a court ruling earlier this year that declared him a 'free citizen."'
It was unclear whether authorities would obey the instruction.
Judges adjourned the case until Sept. 4 when police and government officials would explain why they were continuing to restrict his movement, said Usman Anwar, the additional secretary of the provincial Interior Ministry.
Front Section, Pages 5 on 08/29/2009