Nation/World Briefly: Woman whose chimp mauled friend dies
Published 10:25 pm Tuesday, May 25, 2010
NEW HAVEN, Conn. — The Connecticut woman whose chimpanzee mauled and blinded her friend last year has died, her attorney said Tuesday.
Sandra Herold died Monday night of a ruptured aortic aneurysm, lawyer Robert Golger said. She was 72.
Herold’s 200-pound chimpanzee, Travis, went berserk in February 2009 after Herold asked her friend, Charla Nash, to help lure it back into her house in Stamford. The animal ripped off Nash’s hands, nose, lips and eyelids.
The chimpanzee’s rampage forced Herold to stab her beloved pet with a butcher knife and pound him with a shovel.
The animal was shot and killed by police.
Travis had appeared in TV commercials for Old Navy and Coca-Cola when he was younger, and at home he was treated like a member of the family.
D.C.: Mideast spy missions approved
The top U.S. military commander in the Middle East signed a secret order last fall that set the stage for increased clandestine and covert operations against militants and other threats across the region, defense officials said Tuesday. Gen. David Petraeus signed an order in September authorizing Special Operations forces to deploy to allied and hostile nations — apparently including Iran — to conduct surveillance missions and work with local forces, two officials said on condition of anonymity. The new order does not authorize offensive action, the sources said.
Illinois: Couple found buried alive under mounds of trash
Fire crews investigating a stench found an elderly couple buried alive under mounds of garbage in their Chicago home, authorities said Tuesday. The couple, in their seventies, were found Monday night, a fire department spokesman said. The fire department team forced in the door and found an overpowering smell and piles of food waste and trash. The couple were hospitalized in critical condition.
Rhode Island: Fired teachers can keep jobs
A Central Falls school board has approved an agreement Tuesday to allow teachers at a troubled high school to keep their jobs after all of them were fired in February. The teachers’ union and administration last week agreed to a deal that requires teachers to work a longer day and tutor students.
North Korea: Ties cut with South
Relations on the divided Korean peninsula plunged to their lowest point in a decade Tuesday when the North declared it was cutting all ties to the South as punishment for blaming the communists for the sinking of a South Korean warship on March 26, killing 46 sailors. On Monday, South Korea said it would slash trade with the North and deny permission to its cargo ships to pass through South Korean waters.
Peru: American who helped rebels paroled after 15 years
A judge granted parole Tuesday to Lori Berenson, the 40-year-old New York activist who has spent 15 years in Peruvian prisons on a conviction of aiding leftist rebels. The judge’s decision said Berenson had “completed re-education, rehabilitation and re- socialization” and demonstrated “positive behavior.” The judge said, however, that Berenson cannot leave Peru until her sentence for terrorist collaboration ends in November 2015.
From Herald news services
