LITTLE ROCK — QUOTE OF THE DAY “It is with deep humility and gratitude that
I received the news that the Holy Father
is entrusting me with this service to the Church.” The Rev. Robert W. Oliver, a canon law specialist at the Archdiocese of Boston, who was named the Vatican’s new sex-crimes prosecutor Article, 9A
Nuclear program peaceful, Burma says
RANGOON, Burma - Burma’s military chief says the country plans to use nuclear technology for medical, research and energy purposes but will not develop atomic weapons, a statement that came a month after the government said it would declare any nuclear material in the country.
State media on Saturday reported the comments made by the armed-forces commander at the graduation ceremony for the military’s Medical Academy.
“In modern medical treatment, nuclear medicine is effectively used to treat cancer with radioactive isotopes and radioactive therapy,” Vice Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing told the graduating class on Friday at a ceremony at Rangoon.
“The military will not develop nuclear technology to produce weapons of mass destruction but will conduct studies and experiments for peaceful purposes in accordance with international standards to use in the medical sector, in laboratory research for science and in the electrical energy sector,” the Burmese-language state-owned Myanma Ahlin reported.
The reformist government of President Thein Sein last month announced it would sign an international agreement that would require it to declare all nuclear facilities and materials.
Italy’s president dissolves Parliament
MILAN - Italian President Giorgio Napolitano dissolved Parliament, paving the way for elections in February that will focus on Prime Minister Mario Monti’s austerity policies.
Napolitano made the announcement after talks Saturday with party leaders at the Quirinale Palace in Rome. “There was no alternative” to dissolving Parliament after Monti lost his majority because former Premier Silvio Berlusconi withdrew his support, the president said in broadcast remarks.
Napolitano then set Feb. 24-25 for the two-day vote.
Monti, who resigned yesterday after 13 months in office, possibly will announce at a news conference today whether he’ll sit out the election or heed the call of a group of centrist political parties that want him to run on a platform of continued changes for the eurozone’s third-largest economy.
Monti took over last year just as Italy risked becoming the next victim of Europe’s debt turmoil under Berlusconi.
While he’s overseen a recovery in Italy’s bonds and repaired its tattered standing abroad, his agenda left Italians with higher taxes, rising unemployment and a shrinking economy.
Prince to spend Christmas with in-laws
LONDON - Prince William will spend Christmas with his pregnant wife, Kate, and his in-laws in the southern England village of Bucklebury, royal officials said Saturday.
That means a family Christmas for the Duchess of Cambridge, who was recently hospitalized after suffering from severe morning sickness.
A statement from St. James’ Palace, William’s official residence, didn’t go into much detail, saying only that the prince and Kate would spend their time in Bucklebury “privately.”
British royals traditionally spend the holidays at Sandringham, a vast estate in eastern England, and a spokesman for William said the royal couple would pay a visit at some point over the festive season.
FBI questions Libya attack suspect
TUNIS, Tunisia - After months of asking, agents from the FBI questioned the only known suspect in the Sept.
11 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, that killed four Americans, the suspect’s Tunisian lawyer said Saturday.
Ali Harzi, a Tunisian, was detained in Turkey and extradited in October to Tunisia, where authorities have said he is “strongly suspected” of being involved in the attack.
His lawyer, Anwar Oued-Ali, added that Harzi was also questioned about an attack on the U.S. Embassy in Tunisia, a few days later, suggesting the American authorities are looking into a connection between the two attacks.
The Sept. 11 assault by armed men in Benghazi killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stephens and three other American diplomats. Members of an Islamist militia, Ansar al-Sharia, are suspected in the strike, but there has been little progress in the Libya-based investigation into the attack.
A few days later, a mob attacked the U.S. Embassy in Tunis, destroying property and an American school in the area, resulting in four deaths. The attack was thought to be instigated by a local group also called Ansar al-Sharia, but it is unclear if it is connected to the Libyan organization.
Front Section, Pages 10 on 12/23/2012