Abbas to Cheney: U.S. needs to do more for truce

hAbbas to Cheney: U.S. needs to do more for truce

JERUSALEM — Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, above right, told Vice President Dick Cheney, left, on Sunday that the United States needed to do more to back talks mediated by Egypt that are aimed at securing a truce between Israel and Hamas, Palestinian officials said. Abbas’ push for a cease-fire involving the main Palestinian rival to his Fatah party was a recognition that violence in the Hamas-dominated Gaza Strip is blocking progress toward the broader goal of creating a Palestinian state.

Capsized tugboat traps 18 Ukrainian sailors

HONG KONG — Eighteen Ukrainian sailors were trapped underwater Sunday in their capsized tugboat after it collided with a cargo ship in Hong Kong waters, a marine official said. Hong Kong Director of Marine Dept. Roger Tupper said the sailors were trapped in the ship’s hull and could still be alive if they found an air pocket inside the vessel. However, he said rescue divers knocked on the boat and did not hear the sailors signal back.

‘03 photos show problems with fateful I-35 bridge

MINNEAPOLIS — Old photos of the Interstate 35W bridge show two steel connecting plates were visibly bent as early as 2003 — four years before the span collapsed into the Mississippi River, killing 13 people. Minnesota Department of Transportation officials declined to say when the state first knew about the bending in the pieces of steel, called gusset plates. Two photos, part of a report issued earlier this month by the National Transportation Safety Board, reveal slight bends in gusset plates that hold beams together at two separate connecting points. The plates are in areas believed to be among the first points of failure when the span collapsed.

2 from State Department fired over passport file

WASHINGTON — Two contract employees for the State Department have been fired and a third disciplined for inappropriately looking at Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s passport file, and the department is investigating whether political or other motives were involved, senior officials said Thursday. Spokesman Sean McCormack said that for now it appears that nothing other than “imprudent curiosity” was involved in three separate breaches of the Illinois senator’s personal information. It is not clear whether the employees saw anything other than the basic personal data such as name, citizenship, age and place of birth that is required when a person fills out a passport application.

Driver blames errant Oreo for losing control of car

SALISBURY, Conn. — Police say a man’s excuse for speeding through a small Connecticut town takes the cake — or, at least, the cookie. A state trooper who stopped the 1993 BMW last fall says its driver, 28-year-old Justin Vonkummer of Millerton, N.Y., blamed his driving problems on an errant Oreo. Vonkummer told the trooper that an Oreo had just slipped from his fingers as he dunked it in a cup of milk, and that he was trying to fish it out when he lost control of his car. Prosecutors learned in court this week that Vonkummer had been charged with speeding and driving under a suspended license — not driving under the influence, as a clerk had mistakenly noted in the court records.

Oldest Texan dies at 114

DALLAS — A 114-year-old woman, considered the oldest person in Texas, has died at a Dallas retirement home. Arbella Perkins Ewings celebrated her birthday March 13 with a proclamation from Mayor Tom Leppert and speeches by friends and family. She blew out all 114 candles on her birthday cake. But during the party, she warned those attending that she wouldn’t be around much longer. Ewings died Saturday at Grace Presbyterian Village.

Combined dispatches