HFRENCH WOMAN THANKS DOCTORS FOR NEW FACE

hFrench woman thanksdoctors for new face
LYON, France -- This image released by the Lyon Hospital shows the partial face transplant operation performed in Amiens, northern France. A 38-year-old woman, whose identity hasn't been disclosed, had surgery last Sunday by French surgeons Jean-Michel Dubernard and Bernard Devauchelle to replace her nose, lips and chin. The woman had been mauled in June by her dog. At their first news conference since Sunday's surgery in northern France, doctors on Friday described the 15-hour operation and the woman's reaction to her new face. Devauchelle said the team was "totally stupefied" by how perfectly the transplant was integrated into her face in terms of the color and the thickness of the skin. The woman's first look at the transplant came when a psychiatrist gave her a mirror. Unable to speak because of the breathing tube in her throat, the patient wrote a note, "Merci." Thank you. Then she cried and so did one of her surgeons.
U.N. inspector: Torturewidespread in China
BEIJING -- He Depu, a Chinese democracy activist, was forced to lie still on a bed in a cold room for 85 days. Others told of being beaten with electric batons or sticks, and of sleepless interrogations that went on for weeks. The U.N.'s first torture investigator to visit China said Friday that torture, while on the decline, is still widespread. During the landmark two-week visit, Manfred Nowak met 30 detainees held in Beijing, Tibet and the Muslim-majority region of Xinjiang. Nowak also met with victims' families and held talks with top Chinese prosecutors and justice officials.
Rap executive acquittedof money laundering
NEW YORK -- A rap mogul known for his gangster persona and for producing chart-topping acts under the Murder Inc. label was acquitted Friday of federal charges alleging he laundered drug money for a notorious crack kingpin. Irving Lorenzo and his brother Christopher were found not guilty of money laundering at a trial closely followed by some of the music industry's biggest stars. The brothers could have faced up to 20 years in prison.
Court strikes downIllinois video game law
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- A federal judge ruled Friday that Illinois' restrictions on the sale of violent and sexually explicit video games to minors are unconstitutional and barred the state from enforcing the law. State officials "have come nowhere near" demonstrating that the law passes constitutional muster, said U.S. District Court Judge Matthew Kennelly. Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich and other supporters of the measure argued that children were being harmed by exposure to games in which characters go on killing sprees or sexual escapades.
Marijuana cookbook pulled
TROY, Mich. -- Looking to add Trippy Krispy Treats to your holiday hors d'oeuvres list? Until this week, you could find a recipe for the marijuana-laced sweets in a cookbook sold at the newly opened Urban Outfitters at the Somerset Collection mall in Troy, Mich. But the hip store -- which caters to the trendy high school and college crowd with cool clothes, edgy books and games, and funky home decorations -- pulled "The Marijuana Chef Cookbook" by S.T. Oner after the Troy Community Coalition for the Prevention of Drug and Alcohol Abuse complained.
Executions top 1,000
COLUMBIA, S.C. -- A man was put to death Friday for the 1994 murder of a store clerk, becoming the 1,001st person executed in the United States since capital punishment resumed 28 years ago. Shawn Humphries, 34, mouthed "I'm sorry" to his victim's two sisters before fatal chemicals were pumped into his veins. His death came about 16 hours after North Carolina executed Kenneth Lee Boyd, the 1,000th person to receive capital punishment since 1977, a year after the Supreme Court ruled that it could resume. Boyd, who gunned down his estranged wife and father-in-law, did not want the numerical distinction.
Combined dispatches