QUOTE OF THE DAY
“I came to vote because it’s time for this crisis to end, and I am happy that this transition will finally end.”
Ando Razakafiononana, 33, who was voting in Friday’s presidential election
in Madagascar, which has suffered from political and economic turmoil since a 2009 coup Article, this page
Bulgarian Gypsies blond girl’s parents
LONDON - DNA tests have confirmed that a Bulgarian Gypsy couple are the parents of Maria, a blond-haired, green-eyed 4-year-old taken by police in central Greece last week from the Gypsy settlement where she was living, Bulgarian authorities said Friday.
Authorities on a drug raid had arrested a Greek Gypsy couple, Crhostos Salis, 39, and Eleftheria Dimopoulou, 40, suspecting Maria had been abducted. The couple, still jailed, said they had informally adopted her from her Bulgarian parents.
The Bulgarian government said the scientific tests showed that Sasha Ruseva, a Bulgarian 34-year-old mother of eight, was the child’s mother. Ruseva said she gave birth to a girl in Greece in 2009, when she worked there as an olive picker, but knew she could not afford to care for another child and voluntarily handed her over for adoption.
She said that after seeing Maria’s photo, she was convinced the child was hers although she could not be sure without the DNA test.
Salis and Dimopoulou said they cared for Maria as their own, and their lawyer, Costas Katsavos, was quoted in media reports Friday as saying they “truly and ardently want her back” and plan to begin the legal adoption process when they are released from jail.
7.3 quake in Japan triggers tsunami alert
TOKYO - An earthquake of magnitude-7.3 struck early Saturday off Japan’s east coast, the U.S. Geological Survey said, and Japan’s emergency agencies issued a tsunami advisory for the region that includes the crippled Fukushima nuclear site.
Tsunamis of up to 15 inches were reported at four areas along the coast, but the advisory was lifted less than two hours after the quake.
There were no immediate reports of damage on land. Japanese television images of harbors showed calm waters. The quake hit at 2:10 a.m. Tokyo time about 170 miles off Fukushima, and it was felt in Tokyo, some 300 miles away.
Japan’s meteorological agency said Saturday’s quake was an aftershock of the magnitude-9.0 earthquake and tsunami that severely damaged the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
Satoshi Mizuno, an official with the Fukushima prefectural government’s disaster-management department, said the operator of the plant, Tokyo Electric Power Co., said no damage or abnormalities had been found after Saturday’s quake.
Rebels: Can aid captive Americans
LAGOS, Nigeria - Rebels in Nigeria’s troubled and oil rich Niger Delta said Friday that they have been contacted by the kidnappers of two U.S. mariners and can help ensure their safety.
Nigerian navy spokesman Capt. Kabir Aliyu said a rescue operation has been mounted for the men, whom U.S. officials identified as the captain and chief engineer of the U.S.-flagged C-Retriever offshore supply vessel taken in an attack Wednesday off the coast of Nigeria.
An email reportedly from the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta said Friday that the Americans were captured by a “heavily armed auxiliary outfit” off the town of Brass in the Gulf of Guinea.
“The Americans will not be handed over for our direct custody, but we will have the influence to visit them and ensure that they are well looked after until their subsequent release,” the statement said.
Almost all foreigners kidnapped in Nigeria are released once ransoms are paid. A U.S. civilian kidnapped last year from Nigeria’s oil-refining city of Warri was freed after a week in captivity.
Nigeria’s navy has rescued at least two hostages this year and reported killing several pirates in counterattacks to prevent ship hijackings.
China’s Bo loses appeal; life sentence set
JINAN, China - Ousted politician Bo Xilai lost his appeal of a life sentence for corruption in his final public appearance Friday before heading to prison.
Bo, a former Politburo member and party boss in Chongqing, was convicted last month of embezzlement, bribery and abuse of power, and sentenced to life in prison.
The Shandong Provincial Higher People’s Court decision to uphold Bo’s conviction and life sentence for corruption and abuse of power came as no surprise to political analysts, who believe Bo’s fate was predetermined by party leaders keen to put him away long enough to prevent him from making a comeback.
Front Section, Pages 6 on 10/26/2013