Monday, June 30, 2008
Israel agrees to exchange a gunman for 2 bodies
JERUSALEM — The Israeli government agreed Sunday to free a Lebanese gunman convicted in one of the grisliest attacks in the country’s history in exchange for the bodies of two Israeli soldiers killed by Hezbollah guerrillas.
The German-mediated deal was a rare political victory for embattled Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and closed a chapter from Israel’s inconclusive war against the Lebanese militant group two years ago.
But critics warned that the deal’s heavy price for Israel could offer militant groups an even greater incentive to kill captive soldiers. In Lebanon Sunday, Hezbollah declared victory and planned celebrations.
Israel’s Cabinet voted 22-3 to OK the deal to return the bodies of Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, captured by Hezbollah in a July 2006 cross-border raid that sparked a vicious monthlong war.
At least 7 people die when 2 helicopters collide
PHOENIX — Two medical helicopters collided in midair Sunday afternoon near an Arizona hospital, killing at least seven people and critically injuring three, a federal official said.
All three people on one of the helicopters were killed in the Flagstaff collision, including a patient and the pilot, said Ian Gregor, spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration.
Four others were killed and three critically wounded, Gregor said. He wasn’t sure if they were all on the second helicopter or whether some were on the ground.
The cause of the collision is being investigated.
The collision occurred near Flagstaff Medical Center. Hospital spokeswoman Starla Addair said she did not have any information to release.
The crash started a 10-acre brush fire that authorities were able to extinguish, said Coconino County sheriff’s spokesman Gerry Blair.
Roller coaster fatality
AUSTELL, Ga. — The father of a South Carolina teenager decapitated by a roller coaster at a Georgia amusement park said Sunday that family members may never know why he hopped two fences to enter a restricted area.
Police said Asia LeeShawn Ferguson IV, 17, of Columbia, S.C., died when he was hit by the Batman roller coaster at Six Flags Over Georgia on Saturday. The ride was to remain closed through Monday out of respect for his family.
“Police investigators tried to tell us what they thought happened, but nobody knows but my son and the Lord,” Ferguson’s father, Asia Ferguson III, told The Associated Press in a phone interview. “We don’t know because we weren’t with him at the time.”
The elder Ferguson said he and other family members were at the park with a group of nearly 70 people from Oakey Spring Baptist Church near Springfield, S.C. They were taking a break to picnic outside the park, and his son returned ahead of the group.
Girl attacked by bear
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A 14-year-old girl riding in a mountain bike race was attacked in the dark of night by a bear Sunday and severely injured, but she was able to make a brief 911 call that eventually resulted in her rescue.
The girl suffered head, neck, torso and leg wounds. She underwent surgery and was in critical condition Sunday afternoon at Providence Alaska Medical Center, police said.
“The local bear expert said it’s probably a sow grizzly,” said Cleo Hill, a spokeswoman for the Anchorage Fire Department. “One has been sighted in the area recently.”
The attack occurred along a trail in a 24-hour race put on by the Arctic Bicycle Club in Bicentennial Park. Rescuers had to hike in more than two miles to reach the girl.
The park, on Anchorage’s east side, borders on Chugach State Park. Wild animals — from grizzly and black bears to moose, wolves and wolverines — frequent the area.
Gay pride parade
SAN FRANCISCO — A lesbian motorcycle group dressed in bridal veils, wedding gowns and leather lent a matrimonial touch to San Francisco’s gay pride parade Sunday as revelers celebrated their newfound freedom to marry.
The riders tossed bouquets as they led the city’s 38th annual gay pride parade down Market Street. Some of the motorcycles were adorned with signs that read “Just Married.”
Huge crowds lined the route as city tourism officials predicted the largest turnout yet for the parade, which typically draws tens of thousands.
Associated Press