Hamas accuses Abbas aide of slaying plot
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Gaza’s Hamas rulers accused aides of moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday of being behind an alleged plot to assassinate Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas.
At a news conference led by senior Hamas official Said Siyam, Hamas aired confessions of alleged suspects, several saying they received instructions from a senior Abbas aide. Abbas’ office dismissed the allegations as fiction and denounced Hamas as an “outlaw movement.”
Meanwhile, thousands marched in a funeral procession for eight Palestinians killed in a huge explosion at the home of a senior Islamic Jihad activist in the Gaza refugee camp of Bureij.
43 arrested as fires set in sixth night of youth violence
COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Groups of youths torched schools and cars in a sixth consecutive night of violence across Denmark, mostly in immigrant areas, police said Saturday.
Forty-three people were arrested.
The spate of vandalism started last weekend, and some think it intensified with the reproduction of a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad in Danish newspapers Wednesday.
Police said they were not sure what triggered the unrest. Some observers said immigrant youths were protesting against perceived police harassment and suggested the reprinting of the cartoon may have aggravated the situation.
The reproduction of the prophet cartoon sparked anger in many Islamic countries because Islamic law generally opposes any depiction of the prophet, even favorable, for fear it could lead to idolatry.
North Korea issues demands on nuclear issue
BEIJING — North Korea wants promised energy aid and removal from U.S. terrorism and sanctions blacklists before it will provide a complete declaration of its nuclear programs, American researchers said Saturday after a trip to the North.
North Korean officials also said they slowed the removal of fuel rods from the country’s Yongbyon reactor because the United States and other nations have fallen behind in supplying aid under an Oct. 3 pact, said Siegfried Hecker, a Stanford University physicist, and Joel Wit, a former State Department expert.
Hecker and Wit said they visited Yongbyon and met with top foreign affairs officials and those in charge of the nuclear program but declined to disclose their names.
“1” license plate raises $14 million for charity
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — A license plate with nothing but the number “1” on it went for a record $14 million at a charity auction Saturday.
Saeed Khouri, a member of a wealthy Abu Dhabi family, wouldn’t say how many automobiles he owned or which of them might carry the record- breaking single-digit plate.
“I bought it because it’s the best number,” Khouri said. “I bought it because I want to be the best in the world.”
On Saturday, 90 license plates were auctioned off in all, raising $24 million for a rehabilitation center for victims of traffic accidents. The previous five such events raised more than $50 million.
Hundreds killed by clashes in capital
MOGADISHU, Somalia — Ongoing clashes in the capital left nearly 300 Somalis dead and hundreds more wounded last month, a local human-rights group said Saturday.
Elman Human Rights said 292 people had been killed and another 325 wounded in Mogadishu in January. Civilians are frequently caught in the crossfire between government troops and their Ethiopian allies and Eritrean-backed Islamic insurgents.
