Language-custody case going back to court

Language-custody casegoing back to court
LEBANON, Tenn. -- Felipa Barrera, will be back in court today, in a case that has put a spotlight on how Latin American immigrants are treated by the legal system. Barrera, an immigrant Mexican mother, was ordered to learn English or risk losing custody of her child.
Northwest plane hits flock of birds, returns to airport
WINDSOR LOCKS, Conn. -- A Northwest Airlines plane that left Connecticut bound for Indianapolis was forced to turn around after hitting a flock of birds. The plane circled the airport to burn off fuel before returning to Bradley International Airport, said John Wallace, a spokesman for the airport. Mechanics were checking the engines for possible damage, and the plane was grounded Sunday afternoon, Wallace said. Passengers were being rerouted on other flights. Flight 4768, which was carrying 42 passengers and crew, returned to Bradley about an hour after departure.
Court says dad can visitdaughter who has cancer
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas -- The Texas Supreme Court has ruled that a man can have supervised contact with his 13-year-old daughter, who was placed in state custody because her parents refused to continue her cancer treatments. Katie Wernecke was removed from her parents' care in June. Since then, only her mother, Michelle Wernecke, was allowed supervised visits. The court's order Friday prohibits both parents from having access to Katie if they try to persuade her to avoid treatment for Hodgkin's disease, a cancer of the lymph nodes.
Hurricane Vince headingaway from United States
MIAMI -- Hurricane Vince formed Sunday in the far eastern Atlantic, making it the 11th hurricane of the season, forecasters said. The Category 1 hurricane was moving away from the United States and posed no immediate threat to land, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami. "It's very far away. It couldn't get farther away," said Richard Pasch, a hurricane specialist at the center. "It's headed for Spain. It's not going to reach there. It will likely merge with a cold front." At 5 p.m., EDT, Vince's center was about 535 miles east-southeast of the Azores and about 125 miles northwest of the Madeira Islands. It was moving northeast at about 6 mph with top sustained winds of near 75 mph.
Runoff likely in electionof Poland's president
WARSAW, Poland -- A pro-market lawmaker and Warsaw's socially conservative mayor appeared headed for a runoff in Poland's presidential election Sunday after neither candidate appeared to have gained the 50 percent of the vote needed, according to preliminary results and a key exit poll. With 91.5 percent of the ballots counted, 36 percent of voters had backed Donald Tusk, a pro-business candidate committed to stimulating entrepreneurship with low taxes and deregulation; 33 percent voted for Warsaw Mayor Lech Kaczynski, a former child actor hoping to preserve a strong safety net, according to the state electoral commission. Turnout was nearly 50 percent.
Tourists flee devastation
GUATEMALA CITY -- Dozens of foreign tourists fled devastated lakeside Mayan towns on foot and by helicopter Sunday as Guatemalan officials said they would abandon communities buried by landslides and declare them mass graveyards. Villagers who had swarmed over the vast mudslides with shovels and axes digging for hundreds of missing gave up the effort Sunday, five days after Hurricane Stan made landfall on the Gulf of Mexico coast, bringing torrential rains before weakening to a tropical depression. More than 640 people died and hundreds more were missing across Central America and southern Mexico after a week of rains. In hardest-hit Guatemala, 519 bodies had been recovered.
Saddam's trial date firm
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Saddam Hussein's lawyer has asked that the start of the ousted leader's trial be delayed and challenged the court's competence, but officials dismissed the request and said Sunday that the Oct. 19 starting date is firm. Saddam and seven members of his toppled regime are due to stand trial before the Special Iraqi Tribunal on charges they ordered the 1982 massacre of 143 people in Dujail, a mainly Shiite town north of Baghdad, after a failed assassination attempt against the ousted leader.
Associated Press