LITTLE ROCK — QUOTE OF THE DAY “We must ensure that terrorists have no free
run either in Pakistan or India, and both countries must work together.” Indian Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram Article, 11A
Vatican again complains about raids
VATICAN CITY - The Vatican on Saturday stepped up its criticism of raids carried out by Belgian police investigating sex-abuse allegations involving priests, with the No. 2 official saying Saturday that the raids are unprecedented even under communism.
The raids last week targeted the home and office of a retired archbishop and also the graves of two prelates.
“It is an unheard-of and very grave fact,” Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican secretary of state, said Saturday. Speaking on the sidelines of a conference in Rome, Bertone lamented that bishops were held for nine hours without food or drink.
“There are no precedents, not even in communist regimes,” Bertone said, according to Italian news agencies.
The Vatican summoned the Belgian ambassador to the Holy See to convey its anger. In a statement from Bertone’s office on Friday, the Vatican said it was astonished and angered at the violation of the tombs.
Belgian police on Thursday raided the home and former office of former Archbishop Godfried Danneels, taking documents and his personal computer. Police and prosecutors did not say whether Danneels was suspected of abuse or simply had records pertaining to allegations against another person. He was not questioned.
American teen sailor, brother reunite
SAINT-DENIS, Reunion - Sixteen-year-old Californian sailor Abby Sunderland got a big hug from her older brother Saturday on the appropriately named Reunion Island and again defended her family for letting her try to sail around the world alone.
Though saddened by the loss of her boat in an Indian Ocean storm, Sunderland said she isn’t giving up sailing.
“I’m really disappointed that things didn’t go as planned,” Sunderland said after going ashore early Saturday on the remote French island of Reunion in the waters near southeastern Africa.
Waves snapped her boat’s mast June 10, and she was rescued in a remote area of the southern Indian Ocean two days later by a French fishing boat. It took two weeks more at sea to reach Reunion, from which she plans to fly home today.
“Any sailor that goes out to the water knows that being hit by a rogue wave is a risk, no matter where you are,” said Sunderland, standing by her 18-year-old brother Zac, who flew to Reunion to meet her. “That was a risk that I was willing to take.”
Sunderland thanked everyone who helped in her rescue and acknowledged “the public debate about the cost of rescues.”
“I know that the USA would do the same for a citizen of any other country as these countries did for me,” she said.
4 die in attack on Iraq jewelry shop
BAGHDAD - Gunmen raided a jewelry shop Saturday morning in western Iraq, killing four people before fleeing with a large amount of gold, officials said.
The robbery was the latest in a string of violent attacks on lucrative targets such as banks, jewelry stores and money-exchange houses that have plagued Iraq. Police speculate that insurgents seeking to replenish their funds may be behind the attacks.
Police and hospital officials said six attackers used handguns fitted with silencers during the heist in Fallujah, 40 miles west of Baghdad.
The victims were believed to have been the owners of the shop, police said.
All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Brazil detains pants-dropping U.S. pilot
SAO PAULO - A United Airlines pilot was briefly detained at the international airport in Rio de Janeiro after lowering his pants during a security screening, police said Saturday.
Pilot Michael Slynn, 49, was asked to remove his belt and shoes as part of a routine security screening Friday afternoon. In response, Slynn laughed at security guards and lowered his pants to his ankles, said a police spokesman who was prohibited by departmental rules from giving his name.
Slynn was detained but released shortly afterward and allowed to fly back to Washington, D.C., after signing a document promising to appear before a judge the next time he is in Brazil, the spokesman said.
Calls to United Airlines in Brazil were not immediately returned. When asked for comment, Sarah Massier, a spokesman for the Chicago-based company, wrote in an e-mail, “We are investigating the matter.”
Two telephone numbers listed for a Michael Slynn, in California and Florida, respectively, were disconnected or could not take messages Saturday.
Front Section, Pages 15 on 06/27/2010