Testimony against Olmert intensifies in Jerusalem

Testimony against Olmert intensifies in Jerusalem

JERUSALEM — A Jewish-American businessman testified Tuesday in a corruption probe that threatens to bring down Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, saying he handed cash-stuffed envelopes to the Israeli politician he described as a bon vivant with a penchant for fancy hotels, fine cigars and first-class travel.

Morris Talansky’s testimony offered an unflattering portrait of Olmert just as the already unpopular Israeli leader seeks to rally reluctant public support for peace talks with Syria and the Palestinians.

Police suspect Olmert illicitly took up to $500,000 from Talansky in illegal campaign contributions or bribes before becoming prime minister in 2006. Olmert, who denies wrongdoing, says the funds were legal contributions but has promised to step down if indicted.

80,000 Chinese evacuated

MIANYANG, China — About 80,000 people were evacuated Tuesday from downstream of an unstable earthquake-created dam that is threatening to collapse, and troops rushed to carve a trench to drain the water before it floods the valley.

The threat of flooding from dozens of lakes swelling behind walls of mud and rubble that have plugged narrow valleys in parts of the disaster zone is adding a new worry for millions of survivors.

The number of deaths from the quake climbed toward an expected toll of 80,000 or more. China’s Cabinet said Tuesday that 67,183 people were confirmed killed, with 20,790 still missing.

Antidepressant study

CHICAGO — Doctors may want to give stroke victims antidepressants right away instead of waiting until they develop depression, a common complication, new research suggests.

The findings may lead to an expanded use for antidepressants. Someday high-risk people such as stroke patients might take the drugs before suffering depression — just as people now take cholesterol drugs to prevent heart attacks, the lead author said.

The researchers gave low doses of the antidepressant Lexapro to stroke patients. The patients on the drug were 4.5 times less likely to develop depression than patients taking a dummy pill.

Ex-worker IDs R. Kelly

CHICAGO — A former employee of R. Kelly testified Tuesday that she was “110 percent sure” the Grammy-winning R B singer appeared with an underage girl on a sex tape at the center of his child pornography trial.

Lindsey Perryman, who said she worked as a record producer and personal assistant to the singer and his family off and on from 2000 to 2007, told jurors that she first saw the tape in December 2007, after being approached by prosecutors.

Kelly, 41, is charged with 14 counts of child pornography for allegedly videotaping himself having sex with an underage girl. He has pleaded not guilty and faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted.

Bush touts rebate checks

MESA, Ariz. — President Bush, sounding upbeat as consumer confidence swooned, said Tuesday that the government’s effort to stimulate the economy is just starting to kick in.

“It’s going to make a positive contribution to economic growth,” Bush declared, referring to a package of rebate checks for families and tax breaks for business. The most tangible part of the deal — checks in people’s mailboxes — began arriving this month.

Bush’s reassurance came as a new report put consumer confidence at its lowest level in almost 16 years. Soaring gas prices and gloomy job prospects were largely to blame.

U.S. blasted on rights

LONDON — The United States is shirking its duty to provide the world with moral leadership and China is letting its business interests trump human rights concerns in Myanmar and Sudan, a human rights group said today.

Amnesty International’s annual report on the state of the world’s human rights accused the U.S. of failing to provide a moral compass for its international peers, a long-standing complaint the London-based group has against the North American superpower.

This year it also criticized the U.S. for supporting Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf last November when he imposed a state of emergency, clamped down on the media and sacked judges.

As in the past, the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay came in for criticism.

The State Department had no immediate comment on the report, but said the U.S. was justified in detaining enemy combatants at Guantanamo to prevent them from returning to the battlefield.

Associated Press