Shoddy buildings blamed

Shoddy buildings blamed

BEIJING — Nearly four months after China’s devastating earthquake, a government scientist acknowledged Thursday that a rush to build schools in recent years likely led to construction flaws causing so many of them to collapse.

It was the first official admission that low building standards may have been behind the deaths of thousands of children.

Government critics have raised questions about shoddy construction after the 7.9-magnitude quake killed nearly 70,000 people in Sichuan province, including many pupils crushed to death when their classrooms crumbled.

A really wrong number

WASHINGTON — People calling a federal phone number to order duck stamps are instead greeted by a phone-sex line, due to a printing error the government says would be too expensive to correct.

The carrier card for the duck stamp transposes two numbers, so instead of listing 1-800-782-6724, it lists 1-800-872-6724. The first number spells out 1-800-STAMP24, while the second number spells out 1-800-TRAMP24.

People calling that second number are welcomed by “Intimate Connections” and enticed by a husky female voice to “talk only to the girls that turn you on,” for $1.99 a minute.

The Fish and Wildlife Service, which administers the program, printed about 3.5 million duck stamps attached to cards with the wrong number. An agency spokeswoman, Rachel Levin, said it would cost $300,000 to reprint them.

Bracing for hurricanes

NASSAU, Bahamas — Tropical Storm Hanna roared along the edge of the Bahamas on Thursday ahead of a possible hurricane hit on the Carolinas, leaving behind at least 61 dead in Haiti.

Hurricane Ike, a still-more-dangerous Category 4 storm, was advancing from the east.

Hanna was forecast to pass east of the Atlantic archipelago late Thursday before reaching the coast of North or South Carolina by Saturday, but the National Hurricane Center said Hanna’s sprawling bands of outer winds are likely to hit the U.S. far sooner. Tropical storm-force winds extended outward as far as 315 miles from the center.

Haitian authorities blamed Hanna for 137 deaths, most due to flooding.

FEMA to pay for hotels

NEW ORLEANS — The federal government says it will pay hotel expenses for some of the nearly 2 million people who fled their homes ahead of Hurricane Gustav, but exactly who will be eligible for assistance and how much it will cost taxpayers is uncertain.

Officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency planned a telephone news conference Thursday night to answer questions about the plan.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Wednesday in Baton Rouge that FEMA would pay hotel costs “to make sure that people don’t feel economic pressure to return home prematurely, before it’s safe.”

Promoting polygamy

TEHRAN, Iran — A bill that would allow Iranian men to take additional wives without the consent of their first wife has angered women and the country’s top justice official, who say it would undermine women’s rights and could be a government attempt to more deeply enshrine its strict Islamic interpretation into law.

Outcry over the bill forced parliament to postpone a vote scheduled for Tuesday so lawmakers could debate it further in a committee.

Under Islam, a man can have up to four wives, and countries around the Mideast allow polygamy. However, Iran is one of the few — along with Syria and Tunisia — that require the consent of the first wife before a husband can take another. Still polygamy is rare in Iran, where most people frown on the practice.

Tot’s mom to go free again

ORLANDO, Fla. — The mother of a missing Florida toddler is going free again.

Orange County officials say Casey Anthony posted $500,000 bond for the second time and should leave jail by this morning.

Three-year-old Caylee Anthony was reported missing in July from Orlando. She hadn’t been seen for a month before her mother told authorities.

The mother is charged with child abuse and making false statements to investigators. Detectives say they have evidence showing her car’s trunk had contained a decomposing body, likely her daughter’s.

Her first bond was rescinded after new charges of check fraud and theft were filed. An unidentified person posted her second bond.

Associated Press