Bush: Stop ethnic violence
Bush: Stop ethnic violence
KIGALI, Rwanda — On ground haunted by one of the worst atrocities of modern times, President Bush pleaded with the global community Tuesday for decisive action to stop grisly ethnic violence now plaguing other African nations such as Kenya and Sudan. “There is evil in the world and evil must be confronted,” said Bush, shaken by his visit to a museum that tells the story of Rwanda’s 1994 genocide in which more than 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were slaughtered in just 100 days by extremist Hutu militias. Bush, who once wrote “not on my watch” in the margin of a report on the Rwanda massacre, has responded to the atrocities that have raged in Sudan’s western Darfur region by imposing sanctions, applying diplomatic pressure, and training and transporting other nations’ soldiers for peacekeeping. But he decided not to send U.S. troops into Sudan, and it took three years after the crisis began in 2003 to announce sanctions against a few people, prompting renewed criticism that his actions don’t match his impassioned rhetoric on the topic.
Rep speaks out on USDA
LOS ANGELES — A lawmaker called Tuesday for the U.S. Department of Agriculture to be stripped of its responsibility for food safety in the wake of the nation’s largest-ever meat recall. The agency’s twin mandates of promoting the nation’s agriculture and monitoring it for safety have become blurred, Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro said. “Food safety ought to be of a high enough priority in this nation that we have a single agency that deals with it and not an agency that is responsible for promoting a product, selling a product and then as an afterthought dealing with how our food supply is safe,” said DeLauro, a Connecticut Democrat who chairs the House subcommittee responsible for the USDA’s funding. She made her remarks during a conference call with reporters about the recall of some 143 million pounds of beef products dating to Feb. 1, 2006, from Chino-based Westland/Hallmark Meat Co.
Total lunar eclipse tonight
LOS ANGELES — The last total lunar eclipse until 2010 occurs tonight, with cameo appearances by Saturn and the bright star Regulus on either side of the veiled full moon. Skywatchers viewing through a telescope will have the added treat of seeing Saturn’s handsome rings. Weather permitting, the total eclipse can be seen from North and South America. People in Europe and Africa will be able to see it high in the sky before dawn Thursday. As the moonlight dims — it won’t go totally dark — Saturn and Regulus will pop out and sandwich the moon. The weather could be a spoiler for many in the United States.
Deadly school bus crash
COTTONWOOD, Minn. — A school bus and several other vehicles crashed in southwestern Minnesota on Tuesday, leaving at least four pupils dead and at least 14 injured, authorities said. Forty pupils at Lakeview School were on the bus when it crashed in Cottonwood, about 121 miles southwest of Minneapolis, said Deann Holland, a spokeswoman at Avera Marshall Regional Medical Center. The bus was on its regular route, carrying children from kindergarten through 12th grade.
Mexico-U.S. border quake
CALEXICO, Calif. — An estimated 5.0-magnitude earthquake centered in northern Baja California shook the U.S.-Mexico border region about 100 miles east of San Diego on Tuesday. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage, authorities said. Authorities in Mexico said they were checking for injuries or damage. The quake, which struck at 2:41 p.m., was centered 21 miles southeast of Calexico, a U.S. border city of more than 37,000 residents, the U.S. Geological Survey said. Three other quakes with magnitudes of 5.4, 5.1 and 5.0 have rattled the area in the past two weeks.
Okinawa bases crackdown
TOKYO — The U.S. military imposed tight restrictions on all personnel in Okinawa today, limiting troops to bases, places of work or off-base housing, amid a furor over the arrest of a Marine on suspicion of rape. The restriction, which tightens a midnight curfew for enlisted personnel on the southern Japanese island, started early today and was indefinite, the U.S. Forces Japan said in a statement. The arrest last week of 38-year-old Staff Sgt. Tyrone Luther Hadnott in the alleged rape of a 14-year-old girl in Okinawa has sparked outrage in Japan, which hosts some 50,000 U.S. troops under a security treaty. Hadnott admitted to investigators that he forced the girl down and kissed her, but said he did not rape her, police said.
Associated Press