Iranian security forces clash with protesters

Iranian security forces clash with protesters

TEHRAN, Iran — Iranian security forces beat protesters in central Tehran on Saturday while hard-line activists disrupted a speech by the country’s moderate former president, reformist Web sites said, raising tensions ahead of opposition rallies expected during a key religious mourning ritual.

Several injuries were reported in Saturday’s unrest, which came a day before the Shiite Muslim mourning ceremony of Ashoura. Opposition activists have led a series of anti-government protests since the death of a dissident cleric last week, and other rallies are expected during Sunday’s Ashoura rituals.

South African activist dies

NEW YORK — South African poet and former political prisoner Dennis Brutus has died. He was 85.

Brutus’ publisher, Chicago-based Haymarket Books, says the writer died in his sleep at his home in Cape Town on Saturday.

Brutus was an anti-apartheid activist who was jailed at Robben Island with Nelson Mandela in the mid-1960s. His activism led Olympic officials to ban South Africa from competition from 1964 until apartheid ended nearly 30 years later.

Exiled from South Africa in 1966, Brutus later moved to the United States and taught literature and African studies at Northwestern University and the University of Pittsburgh.

Pastor fatally shoots son

DARBY, Pa. — A pastor fatally shot one of his eight children Christmas Day during a dispute at the family home, where more than a dozen relatives had gathered to celebrate the holiday, police said.

Kirk Caldwell killed 21-year-old Jordan Caldwell after intervening in a violent confrontation between the son and a woman around 2 p.m. at their home in suburban Philadelphia, Darby Borough police said Friday.

Kirk Caldwell fired a single shot, striking his son in the chest, police Chief Robert Smythe said. Jordan Caldwell died at a hospital shortly afterward, police said.

The 44-year-old Caldwell had not been charged as of Friday evening. The gun was legally registered to him, Smythe said.

There was no answer at the Darby Borough Police Department on Saturday.

American missionary crosses into North Korea

SEOUL, South Korea — An American Christian missionary slipped into isolated North Korea on Christmas Day, shouting that he brought God’s love and carrying a letter urging leader Kim Jong Il to step down and free all political prisoners, an activist said Saturday.

Robert Park, 28, crossed a poorly guarded stretch of the frozen Tumen River that separates North Korea from China, according to a member of the Seoul-based group Pax Koreana, which promotes human rights in the North. Two other activists apparently watched and filmed the entry.

Pax Koreana planned to release the footage today in Seoul, the activist said. He spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the situation.

Pope appears to be OK two days after attack

VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI appeared in good shape Saturday as he addressed the faithful two days after a woman knocked him down at the start of Christmas Eve Mass.

Benedict spoke about the plight of persecuted Christians around the world and did not mention the incident in his message to a crowd gathered in a rainy St. Peter’s Square.

The 82-year-old pontiff was processing through St. Peter’s Basilica on Thursday when a woman described by Vatican officials as mentally unstable jumped the barricades and pulled him to the ground as she was taken down by guards. Benedict quickly got up and, though slightly rattled, continued with the Mass.

More attacks on Shiites

BAGHDAD — A string of attacks Saturday against Shiite pilgrims in eastern Baghdad killed five, the latest round of violence to strike worshippers during a revered mourning observance.

Insurgents have targeted Shiite pilgrims, killing dozens and wounding more than 100 this week in an attempt to reignite sectarian violence.

The attacks began Saturday morning when a bomb was planted near a tent that offered drinks and food to pilgrims, a police official said. The blast killed three and injured 16, he said.

Hours later, a bomb exploded near a line of minibuses parked in eastern Baghdad that were carrying pilgrims to the holy city of Karbala, killing two people and injuring seven, said police and medical officials.

In a separate incident minutes later, an attacker hurled a hand grenade into another tent full of pilgrims in another part of eastern Baghdad, injuring six, said a police official.

Associated Press