LITTLE ROCK — QUOTE OF THE DAY
“This is not the moment to circumvent risks, but rather to confront risks.”
Brazilian Defense Minister Nelson Jobim,
as troops support a police operation on gang turf Article, 7AIndia marks Bombay attack 2 years ago
BOMBAY, India - India marked the second anniversary of the Bombay terror attack Friday with somber ceremonies and a renewed promise to seek justice for the 166 people slain in an assault that has set back peace efforts with archrival Pakistan.
The 60-hour attack by 10 Pakistani militants paralyzed the financial capital, known in India as Mumbai, and deeply wounded the national psyche.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the strength of the Indian people will conquer those threatening their way of life.
“We will never succumb to the designs of our enemies,” he said. “We pledge to redouble our efforts to bring the perpetrators of this crime against humanity to justice.”
Saudis arrest 149 al-Qaida suspects
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Saudi authorities said Friday that they arrested 149 al-Qaida suspects in a monthslong sweep and thwarted attacks inside the kingdom on government officials, media personalities and civilian targets.
Saudi Arabia’s anti-terror campaign has largely crushed al-Qaida’s operations in the kingdom since a series of attacks there that began in 2003. Some key militants, however, fled across the southern border to Yemen, where the regional al-Qaida branch has re-established a stronghold from which to plot attacks on Saudi Arabia and beyond.
The new arrest raids over the past eight months revealed that al-Qaida-linked militants have also maintained or rebuilt an organizational structure inside Saudi Arabia with close links to al-Qaida leaders in Yemen.
The groups had foreign links, raised funds and trained their members in the use of weapons and making explosives.
They also sent some members to areas of conflict outside of Saudi Arabia, Interior Ministry spokesman Mansour al-Turki said, without elaborating.
Pakistan detains 2 would-be bombers
ISLAMABAD - Police arrested two would-be suicide bombers planning to attack a mosque and a government building in Pakistan’s capital Friday, as local officials said another suspected U.S. missile strike near the Afghan border killed three purported insurgents.
Police officer Bin Yamin said the detained men were linked to the Pakistani Taliban in the South Waziristan region, where the army has been fighting militants since last year.
Also Friday, a pair of missiles fired by an unmanned plane hit a moving vehicle in Pir Kali village in North Waziristan, two intelligence officials said.
The area is home to a mix of Afghan and Pakistani Taliban fighters who target American and NATO forces in Afghanistan.
Taliban fighters and local tribesmen fired at three more drones still hovering after the attack, but their assault rifles could not hit the aircraft.
The two Pakistani officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to news media on the record.
Russians: Stalin ordered Katyn killings
MOSCOW - The World War II Katyn massacre was committed on the direct order of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, Russia’s lower house of its parliament said Friday - a statement hailed by Polish officials.
The 1940 massacre of about 20,000 Polish officers and other prominent citizens in western Russia by Soviet secret police has long soured relations between the two countries.
President Dmitry Medvedev will visit Poland in early December.
Soviet propaganda for decades blamed the killings on the Nazis, but post-Soviet Russia previously acknowledged they were carried out by the People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs, or NKVD - Stalin’s much-feared secret police.
Russia has turned over scores of volumes of documents this year about Katyn to the Polish government.
Communist legislators tried to amend the statement to remove the naming of Stalin but were defeated.
Front Section, Pages 6 on 11/27/2010