LITTLE ROCK — QUOTE OF THE DAY
“It is a racist statement and this man doesn’t realize that the Palestinian economy cannot reach its potential because there is an Israeli occupation.”
Saeb Erekat, a senior aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, after Mitt Romney said the culture of Israelis helped them become more economically successful than Palestinians Article, this page
Flooding rains hit North Korea again
ANJU, North Korea - U.N. aid-assessment personnel planned to visit storm-pounded counties in North Korea on Tuesday, after two days of heavy rain submerged buildings, cut off power, flooded rice paddies and forced people and their livestock to climb onto rooftops for safety.
The rain Sunday and Monday followed downpours earlier this month that killed nearly 90 people and left more than 60,000 homeless, officials said. The floods come on the heels of a severe drought, fueling renewed food worries about a country that already struggles to feed its people.
Two-thirds of North Korea’s 24 million people face chronic food shortages, a U.N. report said last month while asking donors for $198 million in humanitarian aid for the country.
South Korean analyst Kwon Tae-jin said the recent flooding, coming so soon after the dry spell, is likely to worsen the North’s food problems.
6 new suspected Ebola cases crop up
KAMPALA, Uganda - Six more patients suspected of having Ebola have been admitted to the hospital days after investigators confirmed an outbreak of the highly infectious disease in a remote corner of western Uganda, a health official said on Monday.
Stephen Byaruhanga, health secretary of the affected Kibaale district, said possible cases of Ebola, at first concentrated in a single village, are now being reported in more villages.
In a national address Monday, Uganda’s president advised against unnecessary contact among people, saying suspected cases of Ebola should be reported immediately to health officials.
Officials from Uganda’s Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization announced on Saturday that the deadly Ebola virus killed 14 Ugandans this month, ending weeks of speculation about the cause of a strange illness that had some people fleeing their homes in the absence of reliable answers.
If the six new cases are confirmed as Ebola, it would bring to 26 the number of Ugandans infected with Ebola.
Britain to help destroy Iraqi weapons
BAGHDAD - Britain will help the Iraqi government dispose of what’s left of deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s chemical weapons, still stored in two bunkers north of Baghdad, the British Embassy in Baghdad announced Monday.
The British Defense Ministry will start training Iraqi technical and medical workers this year, an embassy statement said. The teams will work to safely destroy remnants of munitions and chemical-warfare agents left over from Saddam’s regime. He was overthrown in 2003 after an American-led invasion.
Saddam stored the chemical weapons near population centers so that he could access them quickly, despite the danger to his civilian population.
Most of Iraq’s chemical weapons were destroyed by military forces in 1991 during the first Gulf War or by U.N. inspectors after the fighting. The inspections halted just before the 2003 invasion.
Diplomat held in ambassador’s death
NAIROBI, Kenya - A diplomat is being investigated in connection with the murder of the acting Venezuelan ambassador to Kenya, police said Monday, as prosecutors asked the court to allow authorities to keep the diplomat in police custody beyond the 24-hour limit for further investigations.
Prosecutor Tabitha Ouya asked the court to grant police 14 days to conclude investigations on Dwight Sagaray, the first secretary at Venezuela’s embassy in Kenya. Sagaray is being investigated regarding the murder of the charge d’affaires and acting ambassador, Olga Fonseca. He was arrested over the weekend after Venezuela waived his diplomatic immunity, Ouya said.
High Court Judge Florence Muchemi said she would rule on the extension application today.
Fonseca was found strangled in the embassy’s official residence Friday morning. She reported to Kenya on July 15 to replace former Ambassador Gerardo Carillo-Silva.
Front Section, Pages 4 on 07/31/2012