Finland’s ex-president wins Nobel Peace Prize

Finland’s ex-president wins Nobel Peace Prize

OSLO, Norway — Finland’s ex-president Martti Ahtisaari won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for his efforts to build a lasting peace from Africa and Asia to Europe and the Middle East.

The award drew some criticism for not highlighting China’s crackdown in Tibet and on human rights activists.

Speculation had focused on using the prize to honor the 60th anniversary of the signing of the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights by singling out dissidents in China, Russia and Vietnam.

Dalai Lama undergoes surgery for gallstones

NEW DELHI — Surgeons successfully removed gallstones from the Dalai Lama on Friday, an operation that will not prevent the Tibetan spiritual leader from traveling again by the end of the month, a top aide said.

Spokesman Chhime R. Chhoekyapa called the surgery “a simple, routine procedure.”

The 73-year-old Nobel Peace Prize-winning Buddhist elder was hospitalized in New Delhi on Thursday. He had arrived earlier in the week for a checkup.

Nuclear trade deal inked

WASHINGTON — The United States and India have signed an accord that allows American businesses to sell nuclear fuel, technology and reactors to India. The pact reverses three decades of U.S. policy and is a rare foreign affairs victory for President Bush.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and India’s foreign minister, Pranab Mukherjee, signed the civilian nuclear cooperation agreement Friday in the State Department’s ornate Benjamin Franklin Room.

India has faced a nuclear trade ban since its first atomic test in 1974 and has refused to sign nonproliferation accords.

Pa. official to retire

HARRISBURG — The woman who has headed the Pennsylvania Department of Aging for the past six years is leaving office.

Nora Dowd Eisenhower’s resignation was announced Friday and takes effect at the end of the month.

Gov. Ed Rendell’s office says the 54-year-old will be returning to the private sector.

The governor credits her for helping expand a program that subsidizes prescription drugs for older residents.

Pa. balloonist killed

BERNALILLO, N.M. — A hot air balloon crashed into power lines and burst into flames Friday during Albuquerque’s annual balloon fiesta, throwing both men on board to the ground and killing Stephen Lachendro of Butler, Pa., and critically injuring Keith Sproul of North Brunswick, N.J.

An 11-year-old boy was injured in a separate accident after getting tangled in ropes and being dragged along the group for about 20 feet.

The festival, held each October, is Albuquerque’s pre-eminent tourist draw. It hosts hundreds of balloons and pilots and draws tens of thousands of visitors to the city.

Killer appeals to top court

CINCINNATI — Lawyers for an Ohio death row inmate who has unsuccessfully argued that his obesity prevents humane lethal injection have filed an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court to halt Tuesday’s execution.

The Ohio Public Defender’s Office filed the application for a stay of execution late Friday afternoon on behalf of 41-year-old Richard Cooey.

Hours earlier, Gov. Ted Strickland declined clemency to Cooey, convicted of murdering two University of Akron students in 1986.

On Thursday, the Ohio Supreme Court and the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati denied Cooey’s requests for a stay of execution.

Cooey’s attorneys say prison food contributed to a weight problem that would make it difficult to access a suitable vein for lethal injection. Cooey is 5-foot-7 and weighs 267 pounds.

Troop pullout agreement

BAGHDAD — Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Friday that the country’s most influential Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, will leave the decision on the future of U.S. troops to the government and parliament — a step that could remove a major obstacle to a deal.

Tension rose in the Iraqi capital Friday as a car bomb killed 13 people in a Shiite enclave and thousands of Shiites marched to mourn the assassination of a lawmaker that their leaders blamed on the Americans.

Al-Maliki said the U.S. had made major concessions, including agreeing to pull U.S. forces back to their bases by the end of June and to a full withdrawal by Dec. 31, 2011.

Associated Press