Nation and world in brief Sept. 23
Related
Advertisement
9/22/2008 - 9/23/08
China official resigns over tainted milkSHANGHAI, China — China's product-quality chief resigned Monday as the government sought to contain a national crisis over tainted baby formula that has sickened 53,000 infants and implicated the country's biggest dairy producers.
The official New China News Agency said without explanation that Li Changjiang had stepped down as director of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine.
Li and his agency have been under fire since reports surfaced two weeks ago that milk powder made by the Sanlu Group was contaminated with the industrial chemical melamine. Since then, tests by the watchdog agency showed that formula from 22 dairy producers was tainted with the substance, which also was found in pet foods that killed dogs and cats last year in the U.S.
China's Health Ministry said three babies died after ingesting Sanlu formula, although state media reported four deaths. On Sunday, the ministry said 12,892 infants were hospitalized with kidney problems.
Dem's son searched in Palin hacking case
WASHINGTON — The FBI searched the residence of the son of a Democratic state lawmaker in Tennessee over the weekend looking for evidence linking the young man to the hacking of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin's personal e-mail account, two law enforcement officials told The Associated Press on Monday.
David Kernell, 20, has not returned repeated phone calls or e-mails from the AP since last week. His lawyer said Monday that the family is going through a difficult period.
Kernell is the son of state Rep. Mike Kernell, a Memphis Democrat and chairman of Tennessee's House Government Operations Committee. The father declined last week to discuss the possibility his son might be involved in the case.
EPA won't ban rocket fuel in water
WASHINGTON — The Environmental Protection Agency has decided there's no need to rid drinking water of a toxic rocket fuel ingredient that has fouled public water supplies around the country.
EPA reached the conclusion in a draft regulatory document not yet made public but reviewed Monday by The Associated Press.
The ingredient, perchlorate, has been found in at least 395 sites in 35 states at levels high enough to interfere with thyroid function and pose developmental health risks, particularly for babies and fetuses, according to some scientists.
The EPA document says mandating a cleanup level for perchlorate would not result in a "meaningful opportunity for health risk reduction for persons served by public-water systems."
The conclusion, which caps years of dispute over the issue, was denounced by Democrats and environmentalists who accused EPA of caving to pressure from the Pentagon.
Judge trims Rather's case against CBS
NEW YORK — A New York state Supreme Court judge Monday limited the scope of Dan Rather's $70 million lawsuit against CBS Corp., tossing out his claims that the network committed fraud and unlawfully interfered with his contract in his final months at the news division.
But Justice Ira Gammerman allowed Rather to proceed with his claims that CBS broke the terms of his contract and breached its fiduciary duty by sidelining him in the wake of a controversial story about President George W. Bush's service in the Texas Air National Guard.
The ruling "allows us to prove everything we need to prove to a jury," said Martin Gold, Rather's lead attorney. "I think the breach-of-contract claim is essentially a slam-dunk."
Owner of dog in mauling death sentenced
SAN FRANCISCO — A woman whose dogs viciously attacked and killed her neighbor in the hallway of their apartment building seven years ago was sentenced Monday to 15 years to life in prison.
Marjorie Knoller was convicted of second-degree murder in the 2001 mauling death of Dianne Whipple, but a judge later reduced the charge to involuntary manslaughter and sentenced her in 2002 to a four-year prison term.
But the California Supreme Court last year said the trial judge was wrong and sent the case back. Last month, Superior Court Judge Charlotte Woolard reinstated the murder conviction, for which Knoller was sentenced Monday.
The case is the California's first murder conviction connected to a dog mauling, prosecutors say.
U.S. military deaths in Iraq
As of Monday, at least 4,169 members of the U.S. military have died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
The latest deaths reported by the military:
• A soldier was killed Sunday by small-arms fire in Baghdad.
The latest identifications reported by the military:
• Seven Army soldiers died Thursday when their helicopter went down in the vicinity of Tallil. Killed were Chief Warrant Officer Corry A. Edwards, 38, Kennedale, Texas; Sgt. Daniel M. Eshbaugh, 43, Norman, Okla.; Staff Sgt. Anthony L. Mason, 37, Springtown, Texas; 1st Sgt. Julio C. Ordonez, 54, San Antonio; Chief Warrant Officer Brady J. Rudolf, 37, Oklahoma City; Cpl. Michael E. Thompson, 23, Harrah, Okla.; and Capt. Robert Vallejo II, 28, Richland Hills, Texas.
Edwards, Mason, Ordonez and Vallejo were assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 149th Aviation, 36th Combat Aviation Brigade, Texas Army National Guard, Grand Prairie, Texas.
Eshbaugh, Rudolph and Thompson were assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 149th Aviation, 36th Combat Aviation Brigade, Oklahoma National Guard, Lexington, Okla.
U.S. military deaths in Afghanistan region
As of Monday, at least 525 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to the Defense Department.
The latest identifications reported by the military:
Air Force Maj. Rodolfo I. Rodriguez, 34, El Paso, Texas; died Saturday in Islamabad, Pakistan, of wounds from an explosive; assigned to the 86th Construction & Training Squadron, Ramstein Air Base, Germany.
Marine Sgt. Jerome C. Bell Jr., 29, Auburn, N.Y.; died Friday during combat operations in Farah province, Afghanistan; assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Twentynine Palms, Calif.
Army Staff Sgt. Brandon W. Farley, 30, Grand Prairie, Texas; died Thursday at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, of wounds from small-arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades Wednesday in Able Monti, Afghanistan; assigned to the 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.
• Two Army soldiers died Saturday in Korengal Valley, Afghanistan, when their vehicle struck an explosive. Killed were Staff Sgt. Nathan M. Cox, 32, Walcott, Iowa, and Pvt. Joseph F. Gonzales, 18, Tucson, Ariz. Both were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.
• Four Army soldiers died Wednesday in Gerdia Seria, Afghanistan, when their vehicle struck an explosive. Killed were Sgt. Joshua W. Harris, 21, Romeoville, Ill.; Capt. Bruce E. Hays, 42, Cheyenne, Wyo.; 1st Lt. Mohsin A. Naqvi, 26, Newburgh, N.Y.; and Staff Sgt. Jason A. Vazquez, 24, Chicago.
Harris was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 122nd Field Artillery, Illinois Army National Guard, Robbins, Ill.; Hays was assigned to the Wyoming Joint Forces Headquarters, Wyoming Army National Guard, Cheyenne, Wyo.
Naqvi was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 11th Infantry, Fort Benning, Ga., while Vazquez was assigned to the 2nd Battalion 122nd Field Artillery, Illinois Army National Guard, Sycamore, Ill.
