Nation, World Briefs: Republican abortion foe dies in Chicago at 83
Published 9:45 pm Thursday, November 29, 2007
WASHINGTON — Former Rep. Henry Hyde, the Illinois Republican who steered the impeachment proceedings against President Clinton and was a hero of the anti-abortion movement, died Thursday. He was 83. A spokeswoman for Rush University Medical Center said Hyde died Thursday at 2:30 a.m. CST at the hospital. She said Hyde was admitted for persistent renal failure related to a cardiac condition and suffered from a fatal arrhythmia. Hyde retired from Congress at the end of the last session. He made a name for himself in 1976, just two years after his first election from the Chicago district, by attaching an amendment to a spending bill banning the use of federal funds to carry out abortions.
New York: ‘GETOSAMA’ dispute
A Long Island man with “GETOSAMA” license plates now wants to get the Department of Motor Vehicles into court. Arno Herwerth, a retired New York Police Department sergeant, filed a civil rights lawsuit against the agency Monday, saying the DMV violated his right to free speech by insisting his vanity license plates be returned because it deemed the message offensive. The lawsuit asks for an injunction against the DMV repossessing the plates until the issue has been litigated.
California: Rodney King injured
Rodney King, whose videotaped police beating in 1991 led to deadly rioting when the officers involved were acquitted, was shot on a street corner, but his wounds were not life-threatening, police said. King, 42, was shot two or three times from a distance by birdshot fired from a shotgun. He then bicycled back to his home in Rialto and called police. King was hit in the face, arms, back and torso, police said. Authorities said when they arrived at the home, King and others appeared drunk and were largely uncooperative.
Kansas: Body may be student
A body found in Kansas appears to be that of a missing college student who led a secret life as an Internet porn star, police said Thursday. Authorities said the preliminary physical description of the body found east of El Dorado matches that of missing college student Emily Sander. Investigators refused to give details about the state of the body or how it was found. Sander, 18, was last seen leaving an El Dorado bar Friday with a man who has been the focus of a nationwide search since police found blood in a Kansas motel room where he was staying.
Florida: Disney ride worker dies
A Disney employee who fell off a ride platform at Animal Kingdom and hit her head died Thursday, authorities said. Karen Price, 63, was working as a ride attendant on the roller coaster Primeval Whirl on Saturday when one of the moving cars hit her and she fell from the platform, officials said. The dinosaur-themed ride has cars that spin along a track, according to Disney’s Web site. The ride was closed after the accident and reopened on Sunday, the company said.
Australia: Troops to leave Iraq
Australia’s new leader said Friday that he would pull his country’s combat troops out of Iraq by mid-2008 — making good on an election promise that is likely to disappoint the U.S. government. Labor Party leader Kevin Rudd swept to power at elections last Saturday that ended more than 11 years of conservative rule under John Howard, who had strong personal ties with President Bush and was one of America’s few staunch allies in Iraq.
Martinique: Caribbean temblor
A powerful earthquake rocked the eastern Caribbean on Thursday, damaging buildings and panicking residents, some of whom were hurt when they jumped from windows. The magnitude-7.4 earthquake was centered 14 miles northwest of Martinique’s coastline and lasted longer than 20 seconds. It struck at 2 p.m. EST and was felt as far away as Puerto Rico to the west, and Venezuela and Suriname to the south. It collapsed the roofs of a bank and a store in the capital of this French island and left cracks in several other buildings.
Uganda: Ebola outbreak kills 16
An Ebola outbreak has killed at least 16 people in western Uganda, a senior Ministry of Health official said Thursday. He said laboratory tests in South Africa and the United States confirmed 51 Ebola cases, and of those 16 patients died. The first case was reported Nov. 10 in Bundibugyo district, 210 miles west of the capital, he said. The Ministry of Health has set up an isolation facility at the main hospital in Bundibugyo, where all the Ebola cases have been reported, he said.
Malaysia: Drunk destroys village
A Malaysian man set his house on fire in a fit of drunken rage, and strong winds soon spread the blaze so that it nearly burned down the entire village, police said Thursday. The fire Tuesday razed more than 30 homes of a village in the Sandakan district of eastern Sabah state, leaving more than 300 people homeless, a local police chief said. “Almost the entire village” was burned down, he said, adding that police have detained the man in an arson investigation.
From Herald news services
