Proposal for North Korea

Proposal for North Korea
SEOUL, South Korea -- European diplomats will visit North Korea this week to persuade the communist country to participate in talks over its nuclear weapons programs amid fresh doubts that a new round of negotiations will start this month.
The nine-member European Union group will arrive in the capital Pyongyang on Tuesday and stay for three days before making a rare trip through the heavily fortified Demilitarized Zone separating North and South Korea on its way to Seoul for a meeting with South Korean Foreign Minister Yoon Young-kwan.
Today, a joint proposal on easing tensions, penned last week by the United States, Japan and South Korea, was to be forwarded to China for relay to the communist North.
If Pyongyang accepts the proposal, a second round of involving the United States, Russia, China, Japan and the two Koreas would convene in Beijing. A first Beijing round ended in August without much progress.
Veterans recall attack
PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii -- With a giant American flag waving at half-staff under a cloudy sky, an aging and dwindling group of Pearl Harbor survivors gathered Sunday to commemorate the Japanese attack that launched the United States into World War II 62 years ago.
The generations that have passed since Dec. 7, 1941 have softened the pain but not eroded memories, the survivors said in a service at the USS Arizona Memorial.
About 250 people gathered on the memorial for the ceremony which paused in silence at 7:55 a.m. -- 62 years to the minute after the attack started.
Head, torso in water
HOUSTON -- A man fishing in Galveston Bay found a torso inside a suitcase floating in the water shortly before he spotted a plastic bag that contained a head, authorities said.
The body parts were discovered Sunday, about a mile from where another headless torso was discovered two years ago in a widely publicized case involving New York real estate heir Robert Durst, authorities said. Durst was tried for murder and was acquitted of the charge last month.
Officials believe the body found Sunday be that of a missing person, said Galveston County sheriff's detective Ray Tuttoilmondo.
Galveston County Commissioner Eddie Janek, who lives nearby, said it was deja vu as he watched police retrieve the body, which was wrapped in a plastic bag. He also witnessed officials remove the body of 71-year-old Morris Black from Galveston Bay in 2001.
Police never recovered Black's head, but the defense and prosecution in Durst's murder trial agreed that Black died from a bullet to the head.
Durst testified that Black died accidentally as the two struggled over a pistol. He said he panicked and cut up the body to dispose of it.
Ex-president convicted
MANAGUA, Nicaragua -- Former President Arnoldo Aleman, dogged by corruption allegations for years, was convicted of embezzling millions of dollars from his impoverished country and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Aleman, a conservative who returned from exile under the leftist Sandinistas to rebuild Nicaragua's ruling party, was also barred from serving in Nicaragua's legislature and fined $10 million.
The decision will almost certainly weaken Aleman's grip over the ruling Constitutionalist Liberal Party, where his authority has endured despite the charges he illegally diverted some $100 million in government funds to his party's election campaigns while president from 1997 to 2002.
Missing in Antarctica
SEOUL -- A group of eight South Korean polar researchers is missing in Antarctica, the government said Monday.
Three went missing Saturday while returning to base camp in a rubber boat. In their last radio communication with base camp, they reported heavy snow and strong winds and said they were heading for a Chinese camp nearby, a government news release said.
Another group of five were sent to look for them the following day, but they lost contact as well. They were also traveling in a rubber boat.
Chinese, Uruguayan, Chilean, Russian and Argentine vessels were searching for the missing South Koreans, but there efforts were hampered by bad weather, it said.
Wife is slashed to death
NEW YORK -- A man slashed his wife to death with a sword in their apartment and charged police screaming "I'm God! Kill me!" when they came to investigate, officials said.
Ivor Forbes, 32, was naked and covered in blood when he rushed through his apartment door early Sunday, police said. One officer fired 14 shots that left both Forbes and another officer wounded.
Forbes' wife, 24-year-old Kisha Denton, was pronounced dead at a hospital. Forbes had severed her left hand and repeatedly slashed her head, police said.
Associated Press