SAN FRANCISCO — City officials are debating whether to make this famously liberal city the first in the nation to require retailers to post prominently the amount of radiation emitted by cellphones. Although there is no scientific consensus that the ubiquitous devices cause health problems, Mayor Gavin Newsom plans to call for an ordinance in January that would require the conspicuous display of radiation levels wherever the phones are sold. Newsom “believes this is the next frontier in terms of consumer safety,” his spokesman said.
Hawaii: A threat to Obama
A mental competency examination has been ordered for a woman accused of threatening to kill first lady Michelle Obama. The exam for Kristy Lee Roshia was ordered Wednesday by a U.S. Magistrate judge at the request of prosecutors. The motion wasn’t opposed by the federal public defender. The 35-year-old Roshia will remain in custody. Wednesday’s hearing came one day before President Barack Obama and his family are expected to arrive in Hawaii for a Christmas vacation.
Connecticut: Inmate assault
Officials at the state’s highest security prison said an inmate slashed a guard’s throat with a homemade blade, prompting the facility to go on lockdown. State police said the officer was taking the prisoner out of his cell Tuesday for a routine security check at Northern Correctional Institution in Somers. They said the inmate punched the guard and slashed him with the weapon. The guard received stitches. His injuries are not life-threatening.
New Hampshire: Hot chase
Police said an ambulance idling outside a hospital was stolen and the suspect needed to be subdued with a stun gun after being tracked down 18 miles away. WMUR-TV reports that Stephen Cummings, 26, of Nashua has been charged with stealing the ambulance Tuesday afternoon. Police needed a “rolling roadblock” to get him to stop the ambulance. Police said the ambulance was taken outside Lakes Region Hospital. In winter, ambulances are often kept running to keep them warm.
Mexico: Cartel gunmen held
Four suspected members of a cartel-aligned hit squad have been arrested in the slaying of the family of a Mexican marine hailed as a hero for dying in a raid that killed a top drug lord. The Tabasco state attorney general said gunmen from the Zeta gang killed the mother, two siblings and an aunt of marine Melquisedet Angulo. He said four Zeta associates believed to have indirect roles in the attack had been detained, but the killers remained at large. Angulo was the only marine who died in a Dec. 16 raid that set off a two-hour firefight that killed drug lord Arturo Beltran Leyva and six of his bodyguards.
Iraq: Shiite, Christian attack
Bombs targeted Iraqi Christians and Shiite Muslims Wednesday, killing at least eight people and wounding four dozen before coinciding religious observances. Insurgents have routinely targeted Shiites and Christians in an attempt to undermine the country’s security gains and its Shiite-dominated government. Security forces in recent days have been concerned that the Shiite holy observances known as Ashoura and Christmas gatherings would be targeted by large-scale attacks.
Somalia: Taliban-style rules
Residents of a southern town said Islamists are enforcing a Taliban-style dress code. A Kismayo resident said members of the al-Shabab insurgent group are targeting young men who have long hair, no beards and wear Western-style trousers below the ankle. He said Wednesday that Islamists are publicly cutting off parts of trousers and giving haircuts to anyone with long hair. The group has ordered men to grow beards and shave mustaches. Al-Shabab has already banned theaters, musical ringtones and dancing at weddings.
Ireland: 2nd bishop to resign
A second Roman Catholic bishop in Ireland announced Wednesday he will resign in the wake of a investigation into decades of church cover-up of child abuse in the Dublin archdiocese. Bishop Jim Moriarty revealed his decision in his diocese of Kildare and Leithlin, southwest of Dublin. Church officials said Moriarty planned to travel soon to Rome to tender his resignation directly to Pope Benedict XVI, who has sole power to hire and fire bishops.
From Herald news services
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