HMANY SMUGGLED PUPPIES PRESENT HEALTH HAZARDS

hMany smuggled puppies present health hazards
Officer Lori Brown of the San Diego County Animal Control holds two seized puppies during a news conference at the San Ysidro Port of Entry, in San Diego. According to U.S. officials, thousands of underage puppies are brought into the United States for resale via the border crossing stations annually. Many are later discovered to be sick, potentially creating a health hazard for animals and people in the United States.
Broken right wing leadsto seaplane's fatal crash
MIAMI BEACH, Fla. -- The deadly crash of a seaplane shortly after takeoff was apparently caused by the right wing's breaking off during flight, investigators said Tuesday. It was unclear why the wing detached. Salvage crews raised the wing out of the channel where the 58-year-old turboprop aircraft crashed Monday within sight of horrified beachgoers. All 20 people on the flight headed to the Bahamas were killed. Corrosion and stress are among the reasons a wing might split from the fuselage, but it could take nine months to a year to report on the probable cause of the crash, said Mark Rosenker, acting chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board. "Unfortunately, we still have a great distance to go," he said. The right wing was removed from the water with its propeller and engine still attached, but Rosenker declined to provide details about the wing's condition. He told reporters late Tuesday about the wing's separation in giving details on what the early part of the investigation has found. The plane crashed into the mouth of Government Cut channel off the southern tip of Miami Beach and is in 35 feet of water.
President Bush approves blood, marrow databank
WASHINGTON -- President Bush signed legislation Tuesday to establish a national databank of umbilical cord blood and bone marrow that would allow doctors to quickly find a match for patients who need a transplant. The Senate passed the bill Dec. 16 by voice vote. The House passed the bill in May by a vote of 431-1. The bill was stalled while lawmakers argued over a far-reaching plan that would lift restrictions on stem cell research, which Bush has signaled he would veto. The bill Bush signed will provide $79 million in federal funding to increase the number of cord blood units available for matches. The objective is 150,000 units, which would mean 90 percent of patients needing them would have a match. It also reauthorizes the national bone marrow transplant system, combining it and the cord blood in the same database.
Mexico says it will oppose a wall along U.S. border
MEXICO CITY -- The Mexican government, angered by a U.S. proposal to extend a wall along the border to keep out migrants, pledged Tuesday to block the plan and organize an international campaign against it. Facing a growing tide of anti-immigrant sentiment north of the border, the Mexican government has taken out ads urging Mexican workers to denounce rights violations in the United States. It also is hiring an American public relations firm to improve its image and counter growing U.S. concerns about immigration. Mexican President Vicente Fox denounced the U.S. measures, passed by the House of Representatives on Friday, as "shameful," and his foreign secretary, Luis Ernesto Derbez, echoed his complaints Tuesday. "Mexico is not going to bear, it is not going to permit, and it will not allow a stupid thing like this wall," Derbez said.
Katrina hit as Category 3, Hurricane Center says
MIAMI -- Katrina hit the Gulf Coast as a Category 3 hurricane, not a Category 4 as first thought, and New Orleans and Lake Pontchartrain likely were spared the storm's strongest winds, the National Hurricane Center said Tuesday. New Orleans' storm levees were generally believed to be able to protect the city from the flooding of a fast-moving Category 3 storm. But Katrina was generally a slow-moving storm, said Jim Taylor, a spokesman for the Army Corps of Engineers. Parts of the levee system were either topped or failed, leaving up to 80 percent of the city under water. Katrina made landfall Aug. 29 with top sustained wind of about 125 mph, not the 140 mph that was calculated at the time, the hurricane center said in its final report on the hurricane. New Orleans was on the storm's west side, which normally has weaker wind.
Associated Press