Man accused of arson refuses to eat in jail

Man accused of arsonrefuses to eat in jail
SPOKANE, Wash. -- A man jailed over accusations of setting a fire that seriously burned his stepdaughter has not eaten in more than four months and is fighting efforts to force-feed him.
Charles R. McNabb has not had solid food since early February, Spokane County jail commander Capt. Dick Collins said Wednesday. He is apparently despondent over injuries the 16-year-old girl suffered in the fire at his estranged wife's home, Collins said.
McNabb, who drinks water and occasionally coffee, weighs under 100 pounds, about 80 pounds less than when he was jailed about a year ago, Collins said.
A judge has declared McNabb competent to assist his defense in his scheduled July 12 trial on one count of first-degree arson and six counts of first-degree assault.
A Superior Court judge ruled that involuntary feeding could be authorized if the inmate's condition worsens dramatically, but McNabb's civil lawyer has asked an appeals court to act quickly to stay that order.
General escapes harm
KARACHI, Pakistan -- Gunmen opened fire on the motorcade of a Pakistani general in the volatile city of Karachi today, killing at least nine people and injuring eight. The general escaped unharmed.
Lt. Gen. Ahsan Saleem Hayat is the top military commander in Pakistan's largest city of 14 million people, which over the past month has been rocked by terrorist attacks and sectarian unrest that has killed dozens of people.
Gunfire from buildings on both sides of the street hit the last vehicle in the convoy accompanying Hayat, the Karachi corps commander, near the city's Clifton Bridge. Soldiers returned fire, and the gunmen fled in at least one car, witnesses said.
Hayat was unscathed, chief army spokesman Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan told The Associated Press in the capital, Islamabad.
American tourists injured
VIENNA, Austria -- A boat carrying mostly American tourists on a sightseeing trip down the Danube River rammed a landmark bridge in Vienna today, injuring at least 19 people, authorities said.
The MS Viking Europe tour boat struck into a piling on the Reichsbruecke bridge, one of the main spans carrying traffic over the Danube in central Vienna. The boat was carrying 135 passengers, 129 of them Americans, authorities said.
The rest were Britons and Canadians, and the boat was manned by a crew of 39.
Initial reports said 20 passengers were seriously injured, but police Col. Robert Haas later said 19 were hurt and their injuries were minor, mainly scratches and bruises. One of the injured was a cook who suffered light burns, Haas said.
Mysterious paintings
NEW YORK -- Paintings of President Bush and ex-President Clinton, accompanied by alarming messages, mysteriously appeared last week on the walls of two major city museums and reportedly at two other museums, in Philadelphia and Washington.
Harold Holzer, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, said Wednesday that a cartoon-type painting of Bush against a background of shredded dollar bills was found hanging Saturday on the wall near an exit in the museum's Modern Art galleries.
Citing an anonymous source, the Washington Post said the artist left typewritten notes at all four locations that read: "I mixed my semen in some acrylic gel medium, and I painted it in the right hand corner of this piece of art. It is an artistic reference to the silent power of the biological sciences."
Associated Press