In final 50 days in office, Bush touts his legacy

In final 50 days in office, Bush touts his legacy

WASHINGTON — President George W. Bush says history will judge him, but he is getting his own crack first. Bush is using his final 50 days in office to tout his legacy, hoping to leave a lasting impression of overshadowed progress. On Monday, World AIDS Day, Bush was heralded for his leadership in fighting the disease, a point that even his Democratic critics readily concede.

The anti-AIDS program Bush championed in 2003 has delivered lifesaving medicine to more than 2 million people in five years, up from 50,000 people before it began. Many of those helped live in impoverished sub-Saharan Africa, where AIDS is the leading killer.

“I would hope that when it’s all said and done, people say, ‘This is a guy who showed up to solve problems,”’ Bush said at a global health forum. “And when you have somebody say there’s a pandemic that you can help, and you do nothing about it, then you have frankly disgraced the office.”

India demands Pakistan take ’strong action’

MUMBAI, India — India demanded Monday that Pakistan take “strong action” against those behind the deadly Mumbai attacks, and Washington pressured Islamabad to cooperate with the investigation.

The only known surviving attacker told police that his group trained for months in camps operated by a banned Pakistani militant group, learning close-combat techniques, explosives training and other tactics for their three-day siege.

Teams from the FBI and Britain’s Scotland Yard met with top Indian police as they prepared to help collect evidence, a police official said.

Soldiers removed the remaining bodies from the shattered Taj Mahal hotel, where the standoff finally ended Saturday morning, with at least 172 people dead and 239 wounded. The army had already cleared other siege sites, including the five-star Oberoi hotel and the Mumbai headquarters of an ultra-Orthodox Jewish group.

India’s financial hub returned to normal Monday to some degree, with parents dropping their children off at school and shopkeepers opening for the first time since the attacks, which Indian authorities blamed on the banned Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Slain anchorwoman update

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A television anchorwoman killed in her home had been sexually assaulted and beaten so badly in a suspected burglary that her jaw shattered and she broke a hand while trying to fend off her attacker’s blows, her parents said Monday.

“This monster stole my daughter’s innocence,” said Patti Cannady, the mother of Anne Pressly, on NBC’s “Today.”

Study: 1 in 5 young adults has personality disorder

CHICAGO — Almost one in five young American adults has a personality disorder that interferes with everyday life, and even more abuse alcohol or drugs, researchers reported Monday in the most extensive study of its kind.

The disorders include problems such as obsessive or compulsive tendencies and anti-social behavior that can sometimes lead to violence. The study also found that fewer than 25 percent of college-aged Americans with mental problems get treatment.

One expert said personality disorders may be overdiagnosed. But others said the results were not surprising since previous, less rigorous evidence has suggested mental problems are common on college campuses and elsewhere.

Experts praised the study’s scope — face-to-face interviews about numerous disorders with more than 5,000 young people ages 19 to 25 — and said it spotlights a problem college administrators need to address.

Ohio college adviser raffles off a prostitute

SAN ANTONIO — An Ohio State University academic adviser and a real estate agent held a $10-a-ticket raffle that offered an evening with a prostitute who is also a child sex-abuse caseworker, police said.

Christopher S. Johnson, 33, an academic adviser at OSU’s School of Nursing, organized the raffle through a Craigslist.com chat board, police said. Real estate agent Rusty Blades, 42, held the invitation-only party at his house in October for the participants.

Both Johnson and Blades were charged with promoting prostitution. A judge set bail Saturday at $50,000 for Blades and $25,000 for Johnson.

OSU spokesman Jim Lynch said that Johnson was placed on unpaid leave and that the school will investigate whether he improperly used his computer.

Associated Press

Police Detective Jeffrey Ackley identified Vanise Dunn, 31, as the prostitute involved in the raffle. She has worked at Franklin County Children Services since 2000, and court records show she was charged with prostitution Nov. 12 for allegedly soliciting a vice detective.

Associated Press