Mexican protesters vow to continue fight

Mexican protestersvow to continue fight
OAXACA, Mexico -- Thousands of protesters driven from the city center by federal police after months of paralyzing demonstrations vowed to retake the main plaza Monday, but strike-weary residents pleaded for a return to life as usual. Oaxaca remained deeply divided between the protesters demanding Gov. Ulises Ruiz's resignation and those yearning for a return to the tranquil days when foreign tourists browsed shops and dined on the region's famous mole sauce. "Fight, fight, fight! Don't stop fighting!" the protesters chanted before arriving at the central main plaza, the Zocalo, which served as their headquarters for months. Facing off with columns of 3,500 police who blocked their access to the square, the demonstrators lit fires and tossed Molotov cocktails and fireworks that fell short of police lines.
Anti-immigrant lawsparks suit against city
ALLENTOWN, Pa. -- Hispanic groups and the ACLU filed a lawsuit against the Hazleton on Monday, setting the stage for a legal battle over the city's tough new crackdown on illegal immigrants. The ordinance, approved by city council last month and scheduled to take effect Wednesday, imposes fines on landlords who rent to illegal immigrants and denies business permits to companies that give them jobs. Lawyers for the ACLU and the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund and other groups planned to ask a federal judge for a temporary restraining order to prevent enforcement of the law.
Red Cross announcesplans for major overhaul
NEW YORK -- The American Red Cross, stung by criticism of how it handled Hurricane Katrina and the Sept. 11 attacks, announced plans Monday for a major overhaul that would include slashing its 50-member board and reducing the influence of presidentially appointed overseers. Some of the changes in the 60-year-old governance structure can be implemented unilaterally, but the main proposals will require approval from Congress.
Official: Pilot ignoredweather warnings
ABUJA, Nigeria -- A plane crash that killed 96 people in Nigeria might have been averted if the pilot had heeded advice from air traffic controllers to wait for a lightning storm to clear before taking off, the aviation minister said Monday. Citing the decision as a possible cause of the third fatal passenger jet crash in this West African nation in a year, Aviation Minister Babalola Borishade said the government was preparing guidelines to stop such "reckless abuse of crew discretionary power."
Ohio among states hitby salmonella outbreak
ATLANTA -- A salmonella outbreak potentially linked to produce has sickened at least 172 people in 18 states, health officials said Monday. Health officials think the bacteria may have spread through some form of produce -- the list of suspects includes tomatoes. But the illnesses have not been tied to any specific product, chain, restaurants or supermarkets. No one has died in the outbreak, which stems from a common form of salmonella bacteria. Eleven people have been hospitalized, health officials said. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention first detected the outbreak two weeks ago through a national computer lab system that looks for patterns and matches in reports of food-borne illness. The states involved are Arkansas, Connecticut, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Virginia, Vermont and Wisconsin.
Elephants recognizeselves, research shows
WASHINGTON -- If you're Happy and you know it, pat your head. That, in a peanut shell, is how a 34-year-old female Asian elephant in the Bronx Zoo showed researchers that pachyderms can recognize themselves in a mirror -- complex behavior observed in only a few other species. The test results suggest elephants -- or at least Happy -- are self-aware. The ability to distinguish oneself from others had been shown only in humans, chimpanzees and, to a limited extent, dolphins. That self-recognition may underlie the social complexity seen in elephants, and could be linked to the empathy and altruism that the big-brained animals have been known to display, said researcher Diana Reiss of the Wildlife Conservation Society, which manages the Bronx Zoo. In a 2005 experiment, Happy faced her reflection in an 8-by-8-foot mirror and repeatedly used her trunk to touch an "X" painted above her eye. The elephant could not have seen the mark except in her reflection. Furthermore, Happy ignored a similar mark, made on the opposite side of her head in paint of an identical smell and texture, that was invisible unless seen under black light.
Associated Press