Embassies reopen after suicide attacks
Embassies reopenafter suicide attacks
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- Britain and Germany reopened their embassies in Saudi Arabia on Saturday, three days after closing them because of terror warnings that followed deadly suicide attacks in Riyadh.
The American and Italian embassies and consulates, also closed, were expected to reopen soon.
A British diplomat said on condition of anonymity that the embassy and consulates in Jiddah and Dhahran were reopened after a security review. They were closed Wednesday because of "imminent" terror threats in the kingdom.
Those threats came after 34 people -- including nine attackers, eight Americans and two Britons -- were killed and nearly 200 other people were injured in May 12 suicide bombings at Western housing compounds in the capital.
Man faces jail timefor destroying trees
VENTURA, Calif. -- A man who bulldozed more than 300 oak trees on his property could face more than three years in jail after he was convicted on criminal charges.
William Kaddis, 58, could also face fines of nearly $100,000. He also was convicted Friday of illegally keeping 62 dogs on his property in the town of Ojai, altering a stream without permission and filing a false police report.
The oak trees, protected under a 1992 Ventura County law, were destroyed sometime before October 2001.
"This was the largest rape of land in the history of Ventura County, and if they think we wouldn't prosecute anyone who destroyed our environment, they're wrong," Deputy District Attorney Karen Wold said.
Kaddis' attorney Roger Diamond said he plans to appeal the decision unless he can reach an agreement with the Probation Department.
North Korea insistson one-on-one talks
SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korea said Saturday it would agree to negotiations with several nations over its suspected nuclear weapons program only after one-on-one talks with the United States.
Washington says talks to defuse the growing tensions about North Korea's nuclear potential should involve several regional powers, including South Korea and Japan.
Last month, the United States and North Korea held talks with China in Beijing, but no progress was reported.
Interstate is closedafter truck hits bridge
BIG SPRINGS, Neb. -- A tractor-trailer slammed into a bridge support on Interstate 80 in western Nebraska, sending the bridge crashing down onto the truck and killing the driver.
The collapse Friday night shut down a 10-mile stretch of the nation's busiest highway at the start of the long Memorial Day weekend.
Three tractor-trailers were also damaged when they hit the debris, Nebraska State Patrol Trooper Doug Miller said Saturday. A county road had passed over the fallen bridge.
"This is an unfortunate, tragic accident, and my prayers go out to the family of the victim," Gov. Mike Johanns said Saturday.
Both eastbound and westbound traffic was being rerouted around the Big Springs interchange, and Johanns' spokesman Chris Peterson said it wasn't clear when that stretch of I-80 might reopen. Round-the-clock work to remove the bridge, which slanted onto the highway from both sides, was to begin later Saturday, said state Department of Roads Director John Craig.
Bush touts tax cutas formula for recovery
CRAWFORD, Texas -- President Bush says the 10-year, $330 billion tax-cut plan he intends to sign this week will kick-start the economy by encouraging spending and hiring.
"By leaving American families with more to spend, more to save and more to invest, these reforms will help boost the nation's economy and create jobs," Bush said Saturday in his weekly radio address. "When people have extra take-home pay, there's greater demand for goods and services. And employers will need more workers to meet that demand."
It was a formula for economic recovery that Bush repeated often in his five-month campaign for tax cuts and that an array of critics questioned. Alan Greenspan and the Congressional Budget Office, among others, said they saw little short-term gain in Bush's proposed tax cuts, which began as a $726 billion package.
Democrats repeated warnings Saturday that the tax cuts represent the wrong course for the country.
"It's fiscally irresponsible, it's paid for using Social Security and Medicare, and it's geared to the very wealthy in our country," said Ranit Schmelzer, spokeswoman for the Senate's Democratic leader, Tom Daschle. "It's the wrong policy at the wrong time."
Combined dispatches