Thursday, April 24, 2008
10-year-old fires gun inside elementary school
LINDEN, N.J. — Police say a fourth-grader fired a semiautomatic handgun inside a New Jersey elementary school as he was showing it to a friend.
Linden Lt. Raymond Tyra says no one was injured in the gunfire at School Number 2 on Wednesday afternoon.
A 10-year-old boy was showing the .38-caliber gun to his friend in a coat closet when the weapon went off. A bullet passed through the wall and into the classroom next door, where it lodged in a wall.
Tyra says most of the kindergarten to fifth-grade students who attend the school had gone home before the incident.
Police officers recovered the gun and secured the school.
Investigators are trying to determine how the child got the weapon.
India rejects U.S. advice to put pressure on Iran
NEW DELHI — India tartly dismissed American advice that it press Iran to give up its nuclear program, saying it does not need “any guidance” on foreign relations.
Negotiations over a proposed $7 billion gas pipeline with Iran are expected to top discussions when Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad makes his first visit to energy-starved India next week.
The United States strongly opposes the pipeline and accuses Tehran of running a clandestine nuclear weapons program and arming Iraqi militants. Iran says its nuclear program is only for peaceful energy purposes.
Atlantic City votes to ban smoking on casino floors
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Gamblers on the floors of Atlantic City casinos will soon have to give up at least one vice: smoking.
Ending a battle that lasted more than a year, the city council voted 9-0 Wednesday to end the last major loophole to a tough statewide ban on smoking in public buildings that had conspicuously exempted gambling halls.
But patrons still will be able to light up in unstaffed smoking lounges away from the table games and slot machines if the 11 individual casinos choose to build them. The ban takes effect Oct. 15.
Syria says Israel is ready to return Golan Heights
BEIRUT, Lebanon — A Cabinet minister said Wednesday that Israel has passed a message to Syria saying it is prepared to return the Golan Heights in exchange for a peace treaty.
Israeli officials declined to comment on the report, but the message could be a sign of progress in back-channel contacts that the two nations have reported in recent days.
Syrian Emigrant Affairs Minister Buthaina Shaaban told satellite television al-Jazeera that the message from Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was relayed to Syrian President Bashar Assad by Turkey’s leader.
Torch relay in Australia ends without interruption
CANBERRA, Australia — Runners bearing the Olympic torch completed a 10-mile relay through the Australian capital’s crowd-lined streets today, unimpeded by sporadic anti-China protests that left several people arrested.
Thousands turned out for the Canberra relay on the cool and sunny autumn day as police manned crowd-control barriers and vowed that nothing would stop the torch from completing its three-hour journey.
The event began without major incident as a half-dozen officers — in jogging pants, T-shirts and baseball caps — formed a loose cordon around the runner. Overhead, an airplane sky writer wrote the words “Free Tibet” in white letters.
Hawaii volcano forces park evacuations again
VOLCANO, Hawaii — Elevated levels of sulfur dioxide pouring from Kilauea volcano Wednesday forced the evacuation of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park for the second time this month.
About 2,000 people were forced to leave the park when a lack of wind kept the noxious gas from Halemaumau Crater lingering over the Big Island volcano, park spokeswoman Mardie Lane said.
“Right now we have little to no wind,” Lane said. The plume from the volcano’s main crater was lingering over the area rather than getting blown away by trade winds the way it had been earlier in the week.
Associated Press