Officials warn consumers about various toys

Officials warn consumers about various toys

MIAMI — U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials warned holiday shoppers Monday to stay away from toys that might be dangerous for children or break copyright, patent or trademark laws.

Authorities last year seized more than 1,500 shipments of products that either failed to meet consumer safety standards or violated intellectual property laws, said Harold Woodward, director of the agency’s field operations in Miami.

Products intercepted so far this year include toy drums manufactured with small parts that present a choking hazard, yellow toy ducks that contain lead paint, and bright-green lighters that look and sound like frogs, but don’t have safety mechanisms.

Officials also singled out counterfeit MP3 players and backpacks, surge protectors with shoddy wiring and a black toy gun that carries no markings to indicate it is fake.

Mexico City lawmakers OK same-sex marriage

MEXICO CITY — Mexico City lawmakers Monday made the city the first in Latin America to legalize same-sex marriage, a change that will give homosexual couples more rights, including allowing them to adopt children.

The bill passed the capital’s local assembly 39-20 to the cheers of supporters who yelled: “Yes, we could! Yes, we could!”

Leftist Mayor Marcelo Ebrard of the Democratic Revolution Party was widely expected to sign the measure into law.

British political parties to have US-style debates

LONDON — Britain’s three major political parties have agreed to participate in an unprecedented series of U.S.-style television debates, a coalition of broadcasters said Monday.

The BBC, ITV and Sky News television said that the Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties had agreed to three live televised debates before the country’s general election, which must be called by the middle of next year. The three broadcasters will host one debate each.

They would be the first such debates in Britain, where verbal sparring between politicians is usually limited to Parliament’s weekly question-and-answer session.

Media commentators have credited the U.S. presidential contest pitting Barack Obama against John McCain with whetting Britons’ appetite for American-style debates.

Man who inspired writer of ‘Rain Man’ dies at 58

SALT LAKE CITY — The man who inspired the title character in the Oscar-winning movie “Rain Man” has died.

Kim Peek was 58. His father, Fran, says Peek had a major heart attack Saturday morning and was pronounced dead at a hospital in the Salt Lake City suburb of Murray.

Peek was a savant with a remarkable memory and inspired writer Barry Morrow when he wrote “Rain Man,” the 1988 movie that won four Academy Awards.

Fran Peek said his son met Morrow at a convention in the early 1980s and the writer was taken with Peek’s knack for retaining everything he heard. Morrow wrote the script, and the movie went on to win Oscars for best film and best actor for Dustin Hoffman, whose repetitive rants about being an excellent driver and the “People’s Court” about to start were a hit with moviegoers.

Custody ruling in Brazil faces daylong delay

RIO DE JANEIRO — A Supreme Court ruling that could reunite a New Jersey father with his young son after a five-year custody battle was delayed for a day by the chief justice, an official said Monday.

An official at the Supreme Court said the ruling by Chief Justice Gilmar Mendes, which had been expected Monday, would be made today.

The official, who agreed to discuss the matter only if not quoted by name because she was not authorized to discuss the case, gave no reason for the delay.

The wait was agonizing for David Goldman, who has pledged to fight for his son, Sean, as long as it takes.

“I’m hopeful. I hope and I pray that we can leave,” Goldman told The Associated Press on Sunday.

Actress had been ill before she died, authorities say

LOS ANGELES — Authorities said Monday it appeared actress Brittany Murphy died of natural causes after becoming ill with flulike symptoms in the days before she collapsed in the bathroom of her Hollywood Hills home.

Assistant Chief Coroner Ed Winter said an autopsy had been conducted and officials were awaiting the results of toxicology and tissue testing before determining an official cause of death. It could take up to six weeks before a determination is made public.

Associated Press