Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

In brief: Yemeni Shiite rebel leader vows not to surrender

From Wire Reports

SANAA, Yemen – A Shiite rebel leader in Yemen vowed to not surrender Sunday amid Saudi-led airstrikes in a rambling speech that rejected U.N. efforts to halt violence there, even as the political party of the country’s former leader welcomed international efforts for a cease-fire.

The speech by rebel leader Abdul-Malek al-Houthi, his first since the Saudi campaign began, offered signs of cracks appearing in his alliance with Yemen’s one-time President Ali Abdullah Saleh. However, his speech signaled no sign of his rebels backing down from their offensive after earlier seizing the capital, Sanaa, and forcing President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi into exile.

Saudi Arabia and allied countries began their airstrike campaign March 26, hoping to roll back the Houthi advance, which began in September. As of Tuesday, the strikes have killed hundreds of Houthi fighters and at least 364 civilians, the U.N. has said.

The U.N. resolution demands that all Yemeni parties, especially the Houthis, end violence and return swiftly to U.N.-led peace talks aimed at a political transition. It makes no mention of the Saudi-led airstrikes targeting the rebels and pro-Saleh forces.

Gunmen storm Afghan police station

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan – Insurgents armed with guns and explosives attacked a police station Sunday in Afghanistan’s southern city of Lashkar Gar, wounding two officers and a civilian as gunmen elsewhere kidnapped at least a dozen mine clearers, authorities said.

Nabi Jan Malakhail, the police chief of Helmand province, said at least two insurgents were inside the police station, fighting late Sunday with police who had the building surrounded. One bomber blew himself up outside the station to allow the others in, he said.

Helmand province is a stronghold of the Taliban, who have been fighting the Kabul government for more than a decade.

Meanwhile, gunmen kidnapped at least a dozen Afghan mine clearers in the eastern province of Paktia, said Gen. Zelmai Oryakhail, the provincial police chief. He said the clearers had been working without police or soldiers protecting them at their own request.

No group immediately claimed either attack.

Cuban dissident candidates concede

HAVANA – Two dissident candidates conceded defeat Sunday in Cuban local elections that offered them a chance to become the first officials elected from outside the Communist Party in 40 years.

Hildebrando Chaviano and Yuniel Lopez had been chosen as candidates by a show of hands in Havana neighborhood nominating meetings and hoped to win two of the 12,589 seats in 168 municipal councils.

Both acknowledged they had no chance of winning after preliminary results showed Chaviano in last place of four candidates and one of Lopez’s pro-government opponent with twice his vote.

Chaviano, 65, is a government attorney-turned-independent journalist and Lopez, 26, is an unemployed member of a dissident political party.

A win by either would have been symbolically significant. Outside observers said the fact that they made it past a first round of show-of-hands voting on the neighborhood level reflected a government desire to show at least the appearance of softening its monolithic control of the political system in the wake of presidents Barack Obama and Raul Castro’s historic announcement last year that they were declaring detente after 50 years of Cold War enmity.

Cooking fire blamed for wildfire

CORONA, Calif. – An unattended cooking fire sparked a fire that had threatened hundreds of homes in Southern California, fire officials said Sunday.

The fire was reported shortly after 6 p.m. Saturday, triggering the nighttime evacuation of about 300 homes in an area along the border of the cities of Norco and Corona, about 35 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles.

Cooperative weather and the efforts of hundreds of firefighters helped beat back the flames Sunday, and evacuation orders were lifted just before dawn.

By midday, fire officials said they had contained 35 percent of the fire, which had grown to 1.6 square miles.

No property damage or injuries were reported.

Denver police issue dozens of pot citations

DENVER – Denver police said there were no major problems as marijuana celebrations continued for a second day Sunday, but police tweeted a reminder that while recreational use of marijuana is legal in Colorado, people still can’t use it in public.

Police spokeswoman Raquel Lopez said there was no estimate on the number of people who turned out Saturday and Sunday, including many tourists who flocked to Colorado to take advantage of legal marijuana.

“We’d prefer not to be buzzkills this 4/20 weekend. Consume responsibly, and designate a sober driver now,” police tweeted Sunday.

Police said they issued about 60 citations Saturday, most for public consumption. No information was available on any arrests Sunday. “It certainly seems to be going OK,” Lopez said Sunday.