World, Nation Briefs: China and Russia veto U.N. resolution on Zimbabwe
Published 9:33 pm Friday, July 11, 2008
UNITED NATIONS — China and Russia vetoed a Security Council resolution Friday that would have imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe and members of his regime for rigging the June 27 presidential runoff election. The U.S.-sponsored resolution, which would have frozen the leaders’ assets, banned them from leaving the country and prohibited arms imports, aimed to pressure Mugabe to reach a settlement with the opposition Movement for Democratic Change. In Zimbabwe, the MDC announced 113 of its activists had been killed, including one found dead Thursday after being tortured.
North Korea: Resort tourist shot
A soldier fatally shot a South Korean tourist Friday at a resort in North Korea. The 53-year-old woman was killed after the North said she had ventured into a military area during a pre-dawn stroll at a beach. North Korea said the shooting victim walked three-quarters of a mile into a fenced-off military zone, then fled when a soldier shouted for her to stop — and kept running after a warning shot. A spokesman for South Korea’s Unification Ministry announced that the government was suspending tours to the Diamond Mountain resort.
Mexico: Tomato farms tested
Mexico’s Agriculture Department says its tests found no salmonella in Mexican tomatoes. It says Mexican officials took samples from the same soil, water and tomatoes recently examined by U.S. inspectors and found no evidence of the bacteria. A team of inspectors from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration visited five Mexican farms in search of the source of a salmonella outbreak that has sickened more than 1,000 people. Mexico’s Agriculture Department said Friday that the U.S. should clear Mexican tomatoes from any suspicion.
Bermuda: Tropical storm looms
Hurricane Bertha was spinning over open water and headed toward Bermuda, but tourists didn’t expect it to wreck their weekend on the idyllic Atlantic island. Surfers and swimmers remained in the water despite reports of stronger surf and rip currents along the southern coast. On Friday night, Bertha’s center was about 250 miles southeast of Bermuda. Forecasters said tropical storm conditions are possible in Bermuda by late tonight.
Italy: Victory for Rastafarians
If you’re a Rastafarian, you might be able to possess more marijuana than the law allows everyone else. Italy’s highest criminal court has ruled the fact that Rastafarians consider marijuana use a religious sacrament should be taken into account if they are tried on trafficking charges, lawyers said Friday. Smoking pot in Italy is not a crime, but being caught with amounts considered too large for personal use can bring trafficking charges. Police had found the man with enough marijuana to make around 70 cigarettes, which he claimed were all for personal use, his lawyer said.
California: Wildfire victim dead
One person was found dead inside a burned-out house Friday after a wind-fueled wildfire swept through a rural community in the Sierra Nevada foothills, a rare human casualty among the hundreds of blazes that have tormented the state for weeks. Investigators believe the person died in the fire in the town of Concow, but they will conduct an autopsy on the burned body to confirm the cause of death, the county’s deputy coroner-sheriff said. The town had been evacuated when the blaze approached early Tuesday, “but unfortunately not everyone chose to leave and you cannot force them to,” he said.
New York: Near miss at JFK
Two airborne planes — one landing and the other taking off — came within a half-mile of colliding at John F. Kennedy International Airport on Friday in the second such incident at the airport in a week, the Federal Aviation Administration said. On Friday, a Delta Boeing 757 and a Comair Bombardier CRJ9 came within 600 feet of each other vertically and a half-mile horizontally, the FAA said. The FAA moved quickly to change takeoff and landing procedures at JFK on perpendicular runways — the kind of runways involved in both incidents.
Broadway will get bicycle lanes
New York City will close two lanes to cars on Broadway in midtown to make way for a bike lane and a pedestrian walkway with cafe tables. The esplanade, called Broadway Boulevard, will run from 42nd Street eight blocks south to Herald Square, The New York Times reported Friday. When it opens in mid-August it will change that section of Broadway from a four-lane to a two-lane street. Planters filled with flowers will separate the pedestrian areas from car traffic.
Massachusetts: Man cries ‘shark’
A 60-year-old man was charged Friday with disorderly conduct for allegedly lying about seeing two great white sharks off a Martha Vineyard’s beach, authorities said. Edgartown police said Michael Lopenzo warned people to get out of the water at the Joseph Silva State Beach on Thursday. Lopenzo claimed he had seen two sharks about 22 feet long and 3,000 pounds each while he was working on a fishing boat. Officials closed the beach, but said investigators later determined Lopenzo was lying.
From Herald news services
