Pregnant traffic agent killed, but baby is saved

Pregnant traffic agent killed, but baby is saved

NEW YORK — A pregnant New York City traffic agent has been struck by a van and killed on the job, but doctors have saved her baby.

Thirty-three-year-old Donnette Sanz was seven months pregnant when she was run over Thursday afternoon in the Bronx. Doctors at a nearby hospital saved her son by emergency Caesarean section.

Police say they’ve arrested the 72-year-old driver who struck her and charges are pending against him.

Crane being dismantled falls, killing ironworker

QUINCY, Mass. — The leg of a giant crane being dismantled at a shipyard collapsed Thursday, killing an ironworker, a city official said.

Workers had been dismantling the 25-story crane known as Goliath for several weeks at the Fore River Shipyard in preparation for its shipment to Romania.

The workers were removing pieces of the crane to force the support leg to fall, but it came down before they were prepared, Fire Chief Joseph Barron said at an afternoon news conference.

The victim was identified as Robert Harvey, 28, of Weymouth. Authorities said four other workers suffered non-life-threatening injuries. Two were treated at the scene and two at a hospital.

Man kills wife, neighbor

DES MOINES, Iowa — A man fatally shot his wife and a bystander who stumbled on the crime, then holed up in a bedroom with his three children before apparently passing out during a police raid, authorities said.

Nath Inthaboun, 32, was charged with two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of attempted murder after a two-hour standoff with police Thursday morning. The children, age 1, 3 and 5, were not seriously hurt and were staying with relatives.

Inthaboun was being held in the Polk County Jail. Police said that after an all-night argument, Inthaboun shot his common-law wife, Bounpamh Xayavogchanh, 32, in the street in front of their Des Moines home.

A motorist who lives nearby, Amalia Vasquez, 60, witnessed the shooting and stopped to see what was going on. Inthaboun walked over to Vasquez’s car and fired a shot at her, police said.

Russia-Georgia war imperils space program

WASHINGTON — NASA’s ability to send its astronauts to the $100 billion international space station is in danger of becoming a costly casualty of the Russia-Georgia war.

Because the American fleet of space shuttles will be retired in 2010 and the United States won’t have a replacement ready until at least 2015, NASA wants to negotiate a contract this year to have Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft transport all astronauts traveling to and from the station during the gap.

But first, Congress has to pass a waiver to a 2000 law forbidding government contracts with nations that help Iran and North Korea with their nuclear programs, as Russia has done. Even before the Georgia incursion, the bill faced strong opposition, and key members said this week that the chances of granting a waiver now are slim.

Bomber kills at least 18

BAGHDAD — A woman suicide bomber struck Shiite pilgrims south of Baghdad on Thursday, killing at least 18 people and wounding scores of others after the government announced new measures to protect worshippers ahead of a major religious festival.

Also Thursday, the U.S. military announced that six Navy guards face trial for allegedly assaulting prisoners and releasing pepper spray into a cellblock after a disturbance at the main U.S. prison in Iraq.

The woman bomber detonated her explosives among a group of pilgrims resting by the side of a road in Iskandariyah, a former Sunni insurgent stronghold 30 miles south of Baghdad.

Libya, U.S. settle suits

TRIPOLI, Libya — Libya and the United States settled all outstanding lawsuits by American victims of terrorism on Thursday, clearing the way for the full restoration of diplomatic relations.

There were 26 pending lawsuits filed by American citizens against Libya for the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, and other attacks, said a senior Libyan government official.

The official said there were also three outstanding lawsuits filed by Libyan citizens for U.S. airstrikes on Tripoli and Benghazi in 1986 that Libyans say killed 41 people, including leader Moammar Gadhafi’s adopted daughter.

Combined dispatches