LITTLE ROCK — QUOTE OF THE DAY
“The kids of Houla are the kids of all of Syria. Killing the kids of Houla is like killing the kids of all of Syria.”
Burhan Ghalioun, the head of the exile Syrian National Council,
on an attack on a village in which the Syrian government is accused of killing more than 90 people, including dozens of children Article, 1A
40 arrested at Moscow gay rallies
MOSCOW - Gay activists tried to stage two demonstrations in Moscow on Sunday to demand the right to hold a gay-pride parade in the Russian capital, but they were blocked first by Orthodox Christian opponents and then by police, who detained a total of about 40 people from both sides.
The gay activists first gathered outside the City Council building, where a few scuffles occurred as their opponents tried to disrupt the demonstration, decrying homosexuality as a sin. After police broke up that protest, another group tried to stage a second protest at City Hall, but once again police moved in and detained participants, including prominent gay-rights activist Nikolai Alexeyev.
The majority of those detained were gay activists, but some of the Christian demonstrators also were pushed into police buses. Police said about 40 people were detained in all.
Homosexuality was decriminalized in Russia in 1993, but anti-gay sentiment remains strong.
Activists have long petitioned the Moscow government for permission to stage such a parade, but have always been denied. Former Mayor Yuri Luzhkov described gay parades as “satanic,” while current Mayor Sergei Sobyanin has said he disapproves of gay gatherings because they could offend the religious beliefs of many Russians.
Iraq blast hurts 24 Pakistani pilgrims
BAGHDAD - Iraqi officials said Sunday that a roadside bomb blast outside Baghdad injured 24 Pakistani pilgrims. Their bus overturned as it headed to a Shiite shrine.
Police said the bomb exploded Sunday evening as the bus was passing by the predominantly Sunni suburb of Saqlawiyah, 45 miles west of Baghdad.
The bus was filled with Pakistani pilgrims who were headed from Syria to the gold-domed shrine to a Shiite imam in the northern Baghdad neighborhood of Kazimiyah.
A medical employee at a nearby hospital said 19 passengers were hurt by the blast, and another five were wounded when the bus overturned.
All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters.
Greek party leader fears catastrophe
ATHENS, Greece - Greek voters face a choice between supporting a review of the country’s aid package or the “blind and catastrophic” route of terminating the deal unilaterally, said Evangelos Venizelos, leader of the socialist Pasok party.
Breaking the deal would also strengthen “extreme forces” speculating on Greece exiting the euro and returning to the drachma, with the aim of buying state and private assets cheaply, Venizelos said in Athens on Sunday in comments broadcast live on state-run NET TV.
The idea of reviewing Greece’s financial-aid agreement with international lenders is gaining acceptance in Europe and the program may be extended to 2017, Venizelos said.
Greece holds an election June 17.
Mali rebels sign pact to create state
Mali rebel groups Ansar ud-Din and the Touareg Movement for the Liberation of Azawad said they have signed an agreement to carve out a new Islamic state in the north of the country.
The group of ethnic Touaregs, aided by Islamist fighters, declared independence in the northern Mali territory they call Azawad, two weeks after the March 22 coup in Bamako.
“There will now only be one country with one flag,” Attaye Ag Mohamed, a spokesman for liberation movement, said in a phone interview. “There will be military security and defense of Azawad. And in the coming days a government will be formed.”
The Touaregs, traditionally nomadic camel herders, have waged battles for autonomy in Mali and neighboring Niger in the five decades since the countries became independent from colonial ruler France. The most recent uprising was bolstered by Touaregs who returned from Libya after the October death of that country’s leader, Moammar Gadhafi, according to the United Nations.
This “shows that it is urgent for us to cope with the situation,” Amadou Toure, communication minister, said on Radio Mali. “The recovery project of the north is difficult.”
Mali vies with Tanzania to be Africa’s third-biggest gold producer. AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. and Gold Fields Ltd., Africa’s two largest producers of the metal, mine for gold in the country. Mali accounts for about two-thirds of the gold output of London-listed Randgold Resources Ltd.
Front Section, Pages 6 on 05/28/2012