LITTLE ROCK — QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Bad behavior will not be rewarded.”
President Barack Obama,
in a visit to South Korea, accusing North Korea of a pattern of acting out in hopes of being “bribed into ceasing and desisting acting provocatively” Article, this page
At Mass, pope urges Mexicans to hope
SILAO, Mexico - Pope Benedict XVI urged Mexicans to wield their faith against poverty and drug violence, telling hundreds of thousands of worshippers in an open-air Mass on Sunday that they would find hope if they purified their hearts.
Benedict delivered his message in the shadow of the Christ the King monument, one of the most important symbols of Mexican Christianity, which recalls the 1920s Roman Catholic uprising against anti-clerical laws that forbade public worship services such as the one Benedict celebrated.
The pope flew over the monument in a Mexican military Superpuma helicopter on his way to the Mass at Bicentennial Park, where he rode in the popemobile through an enthusiastic crowd estimated at 350,000.
Often seen as austere and reserved, Benedict charmed a country by donning a broad-brimmed Mexican sombrero.
14 held by Mali junta on hunger strike
BAMAKO, Mali - Mali’s foreign minister and 13 others being detained by the junta that took over Mali started a hunger strike Sunday, the minister’s brother said.
Soumeylou Boubeye Maiga, the foreign minister in the government ousted Wednesday, is being held along with others including the justice minister, the interior minister, the mayor of Bamako and a former prime minister, said Maiga’s brother, Tiegoum Boubeye Maiga.
“They started a hunger strike this morning to protest against their detention,” he said Sunday.
Soldiers in Mali led by a middle-ranking U.S.-trained officer, Capt. Amadou Sanogo, surrounded the presidential palace Wednesday and took power overnight.
Sanogo ousted President Amadou Toumani Toure just two months before Toure was to step down after elections.
The European Union, the World Bank and the African Development Bank all have suspended aid because of the coup, and the African Union has suspended the country’s membership. The United States is considering suspending all but humanitarian aid.
Libyan militia’s chief leaves airport
BENGHAZI, Libya - The commander of a powerful Libyan militia said Sunday that he has withdrawn from the country’s main airport, while some of his men remained behind to give the government another chance to either hire them or take over security itself.
Airport official Nawal al-Amin said that some former rebels left after the top commander quit, but others were meeting with Interior Ministry officials at Tripoli’s international airport to try to end the standoff.
The withdrawal of Zintan rebel commander Sayid Mokhtar al-Akhdar and some of his men leaves open the question of who will protect the international airport.
Militias made up of former rebels have shouldered much of the responsibility of policing the country in the absence of a national army and police force since last year’s overthrow of longtime ruler Moammar Gadhafi. The militias operate outside the government’s control.
Libyan Interior Ministry spokesman Abdel-Salam al-Tounsi said some of the former rebels protecting the airport were meeting with a top police official to discuss plans for possible employment and salaries.
In general, the government does not have the capability of providing its own force to secure vital government facilities, according to former rebels.
Senegal president concedes after vote
DAKAR, Senegal - President Abdoulaye Wade conceded defeat to his former protege Macky Sall late Sunday, congratulating him several hours after polls closed when preliminary results showed the opposition candidate had trounced the 85-year-old incumbent.
Wade called Sall, the former prime minister, around 9:30 p.m. Dakar time Sunday to congratulate him on his victory, state television reported. The move alleviated fears that Wade would attempt to stay in office after 12 years or would challenge the runoff results.
Wade became president in 2000. He insisted on running for a third term, even though he had previously revised the constitution to impose a two-term maximum.
That decision to seek re-election infuriated many voters.
Violent protests left at least six people dead.
At a news conference in Dakar, Sall praised the voters and said he would be the president for all Senegalese.
There was no immediate comment from Wade, but his spokesman Serigne Mbacke Ndiaye confirmed the president’s concession of defeat.
Front Section, Pages 5 on 03/26/2012