Algerians make arrests in April bombings case

ALGIERS, Algeria — Algerian security forces dismantled a suspected support network linked to twin terror bombings last month in the capital that killed 30 people, the official news agency reported last Saturday.

Authorities arrested one member of the alleged logistical cell within two weeks of the April 11 bombings in Algiers. By following the suspect’s testimony, they rounded up 11 others, the APS news agency reported, citing unidentified security officials. It did not indicate when the 11 others were detained.

A group calling itself Al-Qaida in Islamic North Africa, built on the remnants of an insurgent Salafist group, claimed responsibility for the attacks on the prime minister’s office and a police station.

A regional Salafist militant leader, identified as Harek Zoheir, alias Sofiane Fassila, was considered by authorities as the suspected ringleader of the cell, APS reported.

Security forces seized more than nine tons of nitric acid and a large amount of an ammonia chemical, stored in two garages in the town of Tidjelabine, 30 miles east of the capital, and used for making bombs, the report said. Another stash of explosives and electronic triggers were found near Draa Benkhedda, further east.

The 12-person group was also said to have links to bombings in eastern suburbs of Algiers last October, APS said.

Algeria has been working to quell sporadic violence linked to an insurgency that broke out in 1992 after the army canceled legislative elections that an Islamic party was set to win. As many as 200,000 have died in the resulting violence, which peaked in the mid-1990s.

Sharpton, Mormon church leaders may meet to discuss Romney remarks

SALT LAKE CITY — Leaders for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Rev. Al Sharpton are planning an in-person meeting, a church spokesman said.

Sharpton asked for the meeting during a telephone apology he gave to two church elders after he said during a May 7 debate that Mormons don’t believe in God.

“Mr. Sharpton and church leaders are looking at possible dates for a meeting, but nothing is imminent,” church spokesman Scott Trotter said.

Sharpton spoke by phone with Russell M. Nelson and Henry B. Eyring, members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, the second tier of church leadership.

The minister and former Democratic presidential candidate’s remarks were about former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, a Mormon who is seeking the Republican presidential nomination in 2008. Sharpton said that “as for the one Mormon running for office, those who really believe in God will defeat him anyway, so don’t worry about that, that’s a temporary situation.”

Sharpton says the remark was distorted for political purposes and has apologized to “regular Mormons” for the slight.

Sharpton said he “wasn’t saying that Mormons didn’t believe in God, I was saying that we weren’t going to have to rely on atheists” to defeat Romney.

Sharpton has not apologized to Romney, but called for a “dialogue or reconciliation.”

A Romney spokesman has said nothing constructive would be accomplished by meeting with Sharpton. Romney has called Sharpton’s remarks bigoted.

Sharpton has also raised questions about Romney’s views on the way African American Mormons were treated by their church before 1978, when only white men were allowed to hold certain religious offices.

U.S. Mint releases silver $1 coin commemorating Little Rock school integration

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Fifty years ago, nine black students faced down a mob to integrate Little Rock Central High School. Now, they are being honored on a commemorative silver coin.

The U.S. Mint unveiled the coin Saturday at the NAACP’s Daisy Bates Education Summit, which pays tribute to the Arkansas NAACP leader who served as adviser to the Little Rock Nine.

Six of the nine planned to attend a discussion with current Central High students at the summit, which began last Thursday and ended Saturday.

Integration at Central High in 1957 was the first major test of the Supreme Court’s ruling, three years earlier, against racial discrimination in public schools.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower dispatched the 101st Airborne to enforce the court order after Gov. Orval Faubus tried to prevent black students from enrolling at the school.

One side of the $1 coin depicts a group of students being escorted by a soldier. It features the phrase “Desegregation in Education” and contains nine stars. The other side depicts Central High as it looked in 1957.

Little Rock plans to mark the 50th anniversary of the integration in September with a series of events, including the dedication of a new Central High School Historic Site visitor center.

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