Crackdown on steroids

Crackdown on steroids

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Federal authorities announced the largest crackdown on illegal steroids in the nation’s history Monday, arresting more than 120 people and raiding dozens of labs that manufactured growth hormone for sale on the black market. Agents seized 56 labs, many of which were located in dirty basements, and recovered 11.4 million doses of steroids, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration. U.S. investigators were helped by governments of nine other countries, including China, which is hosting the 2008 Olympics.

University shooting arrest

DOVER, Del. — Police arrested an 18-year-old man in the shooting of two students at Delaware State University, authorities said Monday. As they led him into a courthouse, he told reporters: “I’m sorry.” Loyer D. Braden, arrested about 3:30 a.m. in his dorm room, was charged with attempted murder, assault and reckless endangerment, as well as a gun charge, according to court documents. A justice of the peace set bail for the East Orange, N.J., teenager at $75,000 and ordered him to stay away from the victims and Delaware State. Braden is a freshman at Delaware State.

Social Security shortfall

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration said in a new report Monday that Social Security is facing a $13.6 trillion shortfall and that delaying reforms is not fair to younger workers. A report issued by the Treasury Department said that some combination of benefit cuts and tax increases will need to be considered to permanently fix the funding shortfall. But White House officials stressed that President Bush remains opposed to raising taxes. The Treasury report put the cost of the gap between what Social Security is expected to need to pay out in benefits and what it will raise in payroll taxes in coming years at $13.6 trillion.

Women seek right to drive

DHAHRAN, Saudi Arabia — For the first time since a demonstration in 1990, a group of Saudi women is campaigning for the right to drive in this conservative kingdom, the only country in the world that prohibits female drivers. After spreading the idea through text messages and e-mails, the group’s leaders said they collected more than 1,100 signatures online and at shopping malls for a petition sent to King Abdullah on Sunday. The last time Saudi women lobbied for the right to drive was in 1990 during the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Forty-seven women were briefly detained for driving in a convoy of 15 cars in the capital, Riyadh. The women were banned from traveling, lost their jobs and were ostracized by their families and acquaintances.

Military warns monks

YANGON, Myanmar — Myanmar’s military government issued a threat Monday to the barefoot Buddhist monks who led 100,000 people marching through a major city in the strongest protests against the repressive regime for two decades. The warning shows the increasing pressure the junta is under to either crack down on or compromise with a reinvigorated democracy movement. The monks have taken their traditional role as the conscience of society, backing the military into a corner from which it may lash out again. The government has been handling the monks gingerly, wary of raising the ire of ordinary citizens in this devout, predominantly Buddhist nation.

Bad livestock news

LONDON — Britain’s livestock owners received more bad news Monday: Another herd of cattle tested positive for foot-and-mouth disease, and a second cow was found to have bluetongue disease. Since the new outbreak of foot and mouth last month, hundreds of animals have been slaughtered and movement of animals has been restricted at one of the busiest times of the year for livestock sales. A larger outbreak o in 2001 resulted in thousands of cattle, sheep and pig carcasses being burned. Before Monday, four cases of foot-and-mouth had been confirmed in Surrey this month, following two in August that authorities traced to a nearby veterinary laboratory site.

Prostitutes to get permits

BUDAPEST, Hungary — In an effort to bring prostitutes into the legal economy, officials said Monday that Hungary will allow sex workers to apply for an entrepreneur’s permit — a move that could generate government revenues from an industry worth an estimated $1 billion annually. Human rights groups often have criticized European Union member Hungary for legalizing prostitution — which has been fully allowed under certain conditions since 1999. Prostitution is legal in most of the EU with a few exceptions such as Ireland, where it is banned. The Netherlands has legislation comparable to Hungary’s, where prostitution has a similar status to other jobs.

Combined dispatches