Saudis issue warning to Iran about Lebanon

Saudis issue warning to Iran about Lebanon

BEIRUT, Lebanon — Saudi Arabia sent Iran a sharp warning over Lebanon on Tuesday, saying Tehran’s support for Hezbollah will damage its relations with other Muslim and Arab countries.

More soldiers fanned out through Beirut, with orders to use force to restore security to a nation shaken by nearly a week of sectarian clashes.

What began as a political struggle 11‚Ñ2 years ago with Shiite ministers bolting from the Cabinet devolved last week into Lebanon’s worst fighting since the end of the 1975-1990 civil war, with at least 54 people dead and scores wounded.

Copter crash kills four

CRANBROOK, British Columbia — A helicopter plunged to the ground and burst into flames in a residential neighborhood in western Canada on Tuesday, killing the three people aboard and one person on the ground, officials said.

The aircraft flew over central Cranbrook for a few minutes before plummeting, striking and dragging a passer-by as it came down, according to Elmer Bautz, who said he witnessed the crash.

The Bell 206 Jet Ranger left a trail of flames and wreckage as it skidded for several yards along a street in Cranbrook, 500 miles east of Vancouver.

Bush visiting Israel

JERUSALEM — Ahead of a visit to the Middle East, President Bush expressed some optimism that an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement would be struck before his term ends while holding out little hope for a major breakthrough when he arrives in Israel today.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Tuesday reaching such a deal within the next eight months “might be improbable but it’s not impossible.”

Bush left the White House late Tuesday afternoon on the trip that will first take him to attend ceremonies in Jerusalem marking the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Jewish state. He also will go to Saudi Arabia where he promises to press King Abdullah to increase oil production to ease soaring costs on consumers.

Brazilian official resigns

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil — Environment Minister Marina Silva resigned Tuesday, ending an often stormy six-year term that put her in conflict with developers in the Amazon rain forest.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva picked Carlos Minc, the environment secretary for Rio de Janeiro state, to be the new national environmental minister, according to the government’s official Agencia Brasil news service.

Ex-Kuwaiti leader dies

KUWAIT CITY — Sheik Saad Al Abdullah Al Sabah, who ruled this small oil-rich ally of Washington for just nine days before being removed for ill health, died Tuesday. He was 78.

As crown prince, Sheik Saad automatically became Kuwait’s ruler when his cousin, Sheik Jaber Al Ahmed Al Sabah, died Jan. 15, 2006, after 27 years in power. But it quickly became clear Saad’s poor health would not allow him to carry out his new responsibilities, and he faced calls to step down.

Diana Walker dead at 90

LONDON — Diana Barnato Walker, a World War II veteran who was the first British woman to pilot an airplane at supersonic speed, died April 28. She was 90.

A granddaughter of Barney Barnato, a co-founder of the De Beers mining group in South Africa, Barnato was a debutante who volunteered to be a Red Cross nurse in France in 1940.

Though she had less than 10 hours of flying experience, she passed the test in 1941 to join the Air Transport Auxiliary, which recruited civilian pilots to ferry new, repaired and damaged military aircraft between British factories and assembly plants during World War II.

Walker made her supersonic flight on Aug. 26, 1963, piloting a Lightning fighter jet that reached a speed of Mach 1.65, or 1,262 mph.

Killer gets death sentence

ATHENS, Texas — A man convicted of killing a Texas deputy sheriff in a shootout at his house was sentenced to death Tuesday, just days after he was found guilty of capital murder.

Randall Wayne Mays, 48, was convicted Friday of killing Henderson County deputy Tony Price Ogburn after a neighbor called to report gunshots a year ago on Mays’ property in Payne Springs, about 50 miles southeast of Dallas.

After appearing to cooperate, Mays barricaded himself inside his house and used a high-powered rifle to shoot at officers. Ogburn’s fellow deputy Paul Steven Habelt died, and a third deputy was injured.

Associated Press