Nation & World || NJ dad to get son back

NJ dad to get son back

RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazil’s chief justice on Tuesday ruled in favor of a U.S. man who has pursued a five-year court battle to gain custody of his son.

According to the court’s Web site, Chief Justice Gilmar Mendes ruled David Goldman’s 9-year-old son must be delivered to him by the boy’s Brazilian relatives, as a federal court ordered last week.

The ruling put Goldman one step closer to finally being reunited with his son, Sean. The boy was taken by Goldman’s now-deceased ex-wife to her native Brazil in 2004, where he has remained. Goldman has been fighting to get him back from the boy’s stepfather.

Goldman, who lives in Tinton Falls, New Jersey, declined to comment until he learned more details about the 50-page ruling.

‘Mister Ed’ actress dies

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — Actress Connie Hines, who played Wilbur’s wife on the popular 1960s television show “Mister Ed” has died. She was 79.

Her “Mister Ed” co-star Alan Young told the Los Angeles Times that Hines died Friday at her Beverly Hills home from complications of heart problems.

Hines was best known for portraying Carol Post on the show that featured a talking horse. She wrote a book in 2007, “Mister Ed and Me and More.”

Born in Massachusetts, Hines also appeared in the 1960 film “Thunder in Carolina” and TV shows that included “The Millionaire,” “Johnny Ringo” and “Riverboat.”

Hines was married twice, the last time to Lee Savin, an entertainment lawyer and producer who died in 1995.

Slaying sends message to troops battling cartels

MEXICO CITY — Assailants on Tuesday gunned down the mother, aunt and siblings of a marine killed in a raid that took out one of Mexico’s most powerful cartel leaders — sending a chilling message to troops battling the drug war: You go after us, we wipe out your families.

The brazen pre-dawn slayings came just hours after the navy honored Melquisedet Angulo as a national hero at a memorial service.

“The message is very clear: It’s to intimidate not only the government but its flesh and blood,” said Jorge Chabat, a Mexican expert on drug cartels. “It’s to intimidate those in the armed forces so they fear not only for their own lives, but the lives of their families.”

Federal officials had warned last week’s killing of drug lord Arturo Beltran Leyva, known as the “boss of bosses,” could provoke a violent backlash from smugglers.

Iran’s president dismisses deadline for nuclear deal

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s president Tuesday dismissed a year-end deadline set by the Obama administration and the West for Tehran to accept a U.N.-drafted deal to swap enriched uranium for nuclear fuel. The United States warned Iran to take the deadline seriously.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also accused the U.S. of fabricating a purported Iranian secret document that appears to lay out a plan for developing a critical component of an atomic bomb.

Ahmadinejad’s remarks underscored Tehran’s defiance in the nuclear standoff — and also sought to send a message that his government has not been weakened by the protest movement sparked by June’s disputed presidential election.

Late Tuesday, the Web site of state-run television said Ahmadinejad had appointed a new chief of Iran’s prestigious Art Academy, removing opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi from the post.

Mousavi, a presidential challenger who alleged voting fraud, had attended Monday’s funeral procession.

Associated Press