Governor halts execution

Governor halts execution
PIERRE, S.D. -- Gov. Mike Rounds halted South Dakota's first execution in 59 years just hours before it was scheduled Tuesday, saying the state law detailing how to administer lethal drugs is obsolete. Elijah Page, 24, had asked to be put to death by lethal injection for the 2000 torture murder of a Spearfish man. It had been scheduled for 10 p.m. Rounds and Attorney General Larry Long said that a 1984 law requires the state to use two drugs to kill a condemned person -- but that the standard now used is a three-drug combination. Using the three drugs, as the state had planned to do, could have put the people who carried out the execution at legal risk, Rounds said.
Rounds said he learned of the legal problem last week after reading an Aug. 14 transcript of a competency hearing for Page. Another death row inmate also raised the issue in June as part of his appeal.
Earlier Tuesday, Rounds' spokesman had said the governor had no plans to step in. And the inmate himself had rejected pleas from friends and death penalty opponents that he reconsider as his execution drew near. Page this year persuaded a judge to let him fire his lawyer and face the executioner for his role in the 2000 slaying of Chester Allan Poage, 19.
Man targets pedestrians
SAN FRANCISCO -- A man targeted pedestrians with his sport utility vehicle Tuesday, killing one man and injuring at least 13 people and himself, authorities said.
The driver was injured and in stable condition, said an aide to San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom who spoke on condition of anonymity because the matter was being investigated. Three people were critically injured, the aide said. The injured included a child, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
The spree began around noon in Fremont, where the driver hit an unidentified man walking on the side of the road, police said. He was thrown into a field and pronounced dead at the scene, said Sgt. Chris Mazzone of the Fremont police. The driver then crossed the bay into San Francisco, where he injured at least 13 people in several neighborhoods, the mayor's aide said.
Police finally boxed the driver in with their cruisers in the city's Richmond district. The black Honda Pilot was in the middle of the street, its front end and windshield smashed in. The man in custody was Omeed A. Popal, the mayor's aide said. State motor vehicle records show the car was registered to Popal, of Fremont.
U.N. to double force
JERUSALEM -- U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Tuesday that the United Nations hoped to double its 2,500-member force in southern Lebanon by Friday. Annan, who spoke after meeting with Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz, said Israel was responsible for most of the violations of the fragile cease-fire that ended the 34-days of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas in southern Lebanon. He also called on Israel to lift its air and sea blockade of Lebanon.
Aid to ranchers, farmers
WASHINGTON -- The government promised nearly $800 million in aid Tuesday to ranchers and farmers stricken by a near-record drought. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns announced the aid while visiting a ranch in South Dakota, one of the states hardest hit by drought and heat. Farmers are struggling in the Plains, the South and, to a lesser degree, the Upper Midwest.
The secretary said 64 percent of the nation's beef cows and breeding stock are in drought-stricken areas and many ranchers are being forced to cull their herds. Drought is also stressing fields of cotton, wheat, sorghum, peanuts and other crops. Last month was the hottest July since the Dust Bowl in 1936. Drought has approached records in many parts of the country, where conditions have been driest from May through June since 1988.
Woman gives birthto 14-pound girl
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil -- A 14-pound girl delivered by Caesarean section is so large that her feet reach over the edge of her small crib, hospital officials said Tuesday.
Isabel Vitoria, who was born Sunday, measures nearly 23 1/4 inches. She is far from the largest ever born in Brazil. That was a 16-pound, 11-ounce baby born in January 2005 in the northeastern city of Salvador. According to Guinness World Records, the heaviest baby born to a healthy mother was a boy weighing 22 pounds, 8 ounces in Aversa, Italy, in 1955.
Isabel Vitoria was in good health and should go home Wednesday, said Antonio Pimenta, an administrator at the Rocha Faria State Hospital. She's the first daughter for Elisa Maia dos Ribeiro, 36, who already has three sons. All were large, weighing over nine pounds, but substantially smaller than Isabel Vitoria. Ribeiro is diabetic, and doctors said it was common for women with diabetes to give birth to large babies.
Associated Press