Houston elects gay woman mayor
HOUSTON, Dec. 12 (UPI) -- Houston City Controller Annise Parker became the first openly gay person elected mayor of a major U.S. city in Saturday's runoff race.
With almost all the vote counted, Parker led former City Attorney Gene Locke by about 8,000 votes, the Houston Chronicle reported.
Turnout was low for the runoff, a non-partisan race pitting two Democrats against each other.
Parker, a veteran city official, soft-pedaled her sexual identity during the campaign and emphasized her experience, The New York Times reported. Parker was the top vote-getter in the first-round election.
"I am not running to be a role model," she said in a debate. "I am running to be the mayor of Houston."
Locke was endorsed by the police union and ran on a law-and-order platform. Locke, who is black, was also expected to win the majority of black votes.
"White liberal Democrats are behind Parker, and African-Americans are going to go with Locke," Marc Campos, a Locke consultant, told the Times. "Moderate Republicans, fiscal conservatives -- they're going to be the ones who decide this."
While the candidates did not talk publicly about Parker's sexual orientation, others did. Shortly before the election, a group of black ministers said she had a homosexual agenda, and the Chronicle reported earlier this week two Locke campaign officials helped a group that sent out an anti-gay mailing.
Thousands march through Copenhagen
COPENHAGEN, Denmark, Dec. 12 (UPI) -- Thousands of marchers swarmed central Copenhagen Saturday, urging action on global warming, and police and radicals clashed in elsewhere in the Danish city.
A crowd estimated at 60,000 to 100,000 people from around the world participated in the main demonstration, The New York Times reported. They walked from Christiansborg Slotsplads or Castle Square toward the Bella Center, the convention hall where delegates from nearly 200 countries are gathered to forge an agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Marchers carried flags and banners demanding action from world leaders to stop global warming. One read "Bla, Bla, Bla. Act Now!"
"My words cannot replace action," Helle Thorning-Schmidt, the leader of the Danish Social Democratic Party. "We are here to show leaders that what is made by man, can be changed by man."
A police spokeswoman said there was scattered violence, with radical protesters breaking windows, throwing rocks and setting at least four cars on fire. At least one officer was struck in the face by a rock and police made about 950 arrests, the Times reported.
"We saved the demonstration from being disturbed totally," Per Larsen, chief coordinator for the Danish police, said. "There were some hard-core protesters that we have neutralized."
Thailand seizes plane loaded with weapons
BANGKOK, Dec. 12 (UPI) -- Thai authorities said they seized 35 tons of weapons Saturday from a plane believed bound from North Korea to South Asia.
The seizure occurred after the Ilyushin II-76 cargo plane landed at Bangkok's Don Mueang International Airport for refueling, the Bangkok Post reported. The newspaper said the plane was searched after Thai security officials were alerted by U.S. officials
The five Eastern Europeans who were in the plane were detained, the newspaper said. The Post said the suspects were identified as Alexandr Zrybnev, 53, Viktor Abdullayev, 58, Vitaliy Shumkov, 54, Ilyas Issakov, 53, from Kazakhstan; and Mikhail Petukhou, 54, from Belarus.
The aircraft, which was impounded, was suspected to have taken off from Pyongyang, North Korea, and bound for Colombo, Sri Lanka, with the weapons ultimately bound for the Middle East. The weapons cache was found in packages in tightly sealed wood and metal crates.
"There were a lot of weapons such as rocket-propelled grenades, missiles and other war weapons," said Lt. Gen. Thangai Prasajaksattru, commander of the Central Investigation Bureau.
Authorities told the Post that while they had yet to confirm where the aircraft originated, they believed it was registered in Georgia or Russia.
The flight schedule says the plane was headed for Colombo, Sri Lanka. Security authorities suspect the weapons could be destined for Sri Lanka or the Middle East.
Pakistan looks for terror recruiter
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Dec. 12 (UPI) -- Five U.S. citizens arrested in Pakistan were recruited by an insurgent leader who hoped they would kill U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan, investigators say.
Pakistani officials said they were searching for a man they know by the name Saifullah. He allegedly spotted the group from the Alexandria, Va., area when one of the five posted a clip on YouTube suggesting he approved of terrorist attacks.
Once the five arrived in Pakistan, Saifullah failed to convince terrorist groups they were not part of a U.S. sting operation, investigators said. The men were still said to be hoping to win acceptance by an Islamist group when they were detained.
Evan Kohlmann, an expert on terrorism with the Nine Eleven Finding Answers Foundation, said al-Qaida and similar groups have become more cautious about new recruits because they know intelligence agencies are aware of their recruiting methods.
"Increasingly, recruiters are taking less-prominent roles in mosques and community centers because places like that are under scrutiny. So what these guys are doing is turning to the Internet," Kohlmann said.
Arroyo lifts martial law in massacre area
MANILA, Philippines, Dec. 12 (UPI) -- Philippine President Gloria Arroyo ended martial law Saturday in Maguindanao, the province where 57 people were killed in an ambush in November.
A declaration of a state of emergency in the province remains in force, the Manila Bulletin reported. Military commanders say 4,000 soldiers are still in the province.
Eduardo Ermita, the president's secretary, told reporters 529 people were arrested during the week the province was under martial law. He said the military and police had also successfully cleared rebel groups out of the area.
The massacre was allegedly orchestrated by members of the powerful Ampatuan clan. The government says the Ampatuans then tried to avoid arrest by fomenting a rebellion.
Ronaldo Puno, the interior and local government secretary, said Arroyo's decision to lift martial law after such a short period shows there was no "grand conspiracy" to put much of the country under military rule.
"We'll waste no time in going back to the normal constitutional processes that we have," he said.
Mob attacks UC-Berkeley chancellor's home
BERKELEY, Calif., Dec. 12 (UPI) -- An angry mob descended on the home of University of California-Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau, breaking windows and throwing torches, police said.
Eight of the estimated 75 people who took part in the Friday night attack were arrested on a variety of charges, including attempted arson and assault with a deadly weapon, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Saturday.
The crowd voiced anger over student fee increases and budget cuts.
"No justice, no peace," they chanted before smashing planters, windows and lights, the newspaper said.
Campus spokesman Dan Mogulof said several threw torches at the home, where Birgeneau was awakened by his wife, Mary Catherine.
"These are criminals, not activists," Birgeneau said in a statement Saturday. "The attack at our home was extraordinarily frightening and violent. My wife and I genuinely feared for our lives. The people involved in this action will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. I want to emphasize that they represent an extreme minority of our students."
The attack came a day after university police arrested 66 people tied to a four-day protest this week at the school's Wheeler Hall, which also was the site of a Nov. 20 occupation and clash between students and authorities.
