Nation, World Briefs: New rules for transplants help remove racial bias

CHICAGO — Blacks waiting for a liver transplant used to be more likely to die compared to whites. Now they have the same chance of getting a life-saving organ under a system that puts the sickest patients first, a new study found. Racial differences disappeared when the old system was scrapped in 2002, according to the federally funded study, the first assessment of how blacks fared after the change. “By design, we tried to make it race blind. It looks like we did,” said Dr. Richard Freeman, a transplant surgeon at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston, who helped create the new system.

Florida: Ban on gay adoptions

A judge on Tuesday overturned a strict Florida law that blocks gay people from adopting children, declaring there was no legal or scientific reason for sexual orientation alone to prohibit anyone from adopting. The Miami-Dade Circuit judge said the 31-year-old law violates equal protection rights for the children and their prospective gay parents, rejecting the state’s arguments that there is “a supposed dark cloud hovering over homes of homosexuals and their children.” Florida is the only state with an outright ban on gay adoption.

Connecticut: Lieberman speech

Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, an independent, took another step Tuesday toward mending his relationship with Democrats, saying that Barack Obama’s actions since winning the presidency have been “just about perfect.” “Everything that President-elect Obama has done since election night has been just about perfect, both in terms of a tone and also in terms of the strength of the names that have either been announced or are being discussed to fill his administration,” Lieberman said during a visit to Hartford.

Hawaii: Obama sites are featured

Criticized for moving slowly to take advantage of a native sons’ election to the presidency, the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau has unveiled a new Web site listing some of the spots where President-elect Barack Obama has visited as an adult. The site highlights locations where Obama and his family visited during a respite from the arduous Democratic primary campaign in August, including Pearl Harbor, Hanauma Bay and a local country club where he played golf. The Web site is www.gohawaii.com/obama.

Georgia: Chicken truck warning

You’ve heard about the chicken that crossed the road. But have you heard the one about the chickens traveling down the road? It’s no laughing matter. Crates of chickens being trucked along the highway in the back of an open truck can shoot a bunch of nasty bacteria into the cars behind them, researchers have found. Drivers stuck behind such a truck should “pass them quickly,” advised study co-author Ana Rule, a researcher at Johns Hopkins University.

Malaysia: India sank fishing boat

A suspected pirate vessel that was destroyed by the Indian navy last week near Somalia was actually a Thai fishing trawler that had been hijacked by pirates, a maritime official said Wednesday. The head of the International Maritime Bureau’s piracy reporting center in Kuala Lumpur, said one Thai crew member died when the Indian frigate INS Tabar fired on the boat in the Gulf of Aden on Nov. 18. Fourteen others are missing and a Cambodian sailor was rescued four days later by passing fishmermen, he said. The IMB received a report on the apparent mistake late Tuesday from Bangkok-based Sirichai Fisheries, which owned the vessel, he said.

Greenland: Autonomy on ballot

Official results of a nonbinding referendum show three of four voters approve a plan to give Greenland more autonomy from Denmark. Greenland’s election commission says 76 percent voted “yes” on the referendum to extend home rule, while 24 percent voted “no.” The plan calls for Greenland to take control over the local police force, courts and coast guard and to make Greenlandic, an Inuit tongue, the official language. It also sets new rules on how to split any future oil revenue between Greenland and Denmark.

Afghanistan: Acid attack arrests

Even amid the everyday brutality of war, it was an especially horrific attack: Assailants earlier this month splashed battery acid on a group of Afghan girls, punishing them for going to school. On Tuesday, Afghan authorities announced the arrests of 10 men described as Taliban militants in connection with the Nov. 12 attack in the southern city of Kandahar, the birthplace of the Taliban movement. Men on motorbikes carried out the assault, targeting a group of about a dozen girls who were accompanied by several female teachers. Eleven schoolgirls and four adults were hurt.

Britain: Juror’s posts on Facebook

A British court official said a juror was dismissed from a sex abuse trial after discussing the case on Facebook. A court administrator said the female juror posted details of the case on the social networking site and asked her online friends whether they thought the defendants were guilty. He said she was removed from the trial at Burnley Crown Court in northwest England on Nov. 18 after her online indiscretions came to light. The case continued with a jury of 11 people.

From Herald news services