Japanese official resigns

Japanese official resigns

TOKYO — Japan’s finance minister resigned in disgrace Tuesday after slurring his speech and nodding off during the G-7 summit in Rome last weekend in yet another political distraction as the world’s No. 2 economy battles an ever-deepening recession.

Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa denied he was drunk on the job and blamed his bizarre behavior at a press conference in Italy on cold medicine and jet lag, but friends and foes alike weren’t buying his excuse.

It was the latest blow to the beleaguered government of Prime Minister Taro Aso, whose support ratings fell into the single digits in a recent poll, increasing speculation his days might be numbered.

Meningitis kills 2 soldiers

FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. — A second soldier stationed at the Army’s Fort Leonard Wood has died of meningitis, officials said Tuesday.

Army officials said Pvt. Randy Stabnick, 28, of South Bend, Ind., died Tuesday at a hospital in Springfield.

A 23-year-old soldier from Alabama stationed at the base died Feb. 9. His name and hometown were not released at his family’s request.

At a news conference, officials at the base said the deaths were both the result of pneumococcal meningitis, a bacterial strain of the disease. The base’s chief medical officer, Lt. Col. John Lowery, said there was no concern of an outbreak over a strain of meningitis he characterized as “noncontagious.” But he admitted officials were puzzled that two soldiers died within days of each other from the same disease.

Polanski case still alive

LOS ANGELES — A judge on Tuesday refused to dismiss a 31-year-old sex case against Roman Polanski because he’s a fugitive but signaled that he would reconsider if the film director returns to the United States and appears in court.

Superior Court Judge Peter Espinoza said that after watching a documentary on the case, he agrees there was misconduct by the now-deceased judge who arranged a plea bargain but reneged on it.

Polanski, now 75, pleaded guilty in 1977 to unlawful sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl but fled to France in February 1978 after the judge threatened him with more prison time than agreed upon.

Kansas avoids cash crisis

TOPEKA, Kan. — An impasse that held up Kansas income tax refunds and threatened to delay state employees’ next paychecks ended Tuesday when Gov. Kathleen Sebelius signed a budget-balancing bill.

The signing fulfilled a key demand from Republican legislative leaders who had blocked the Democratic governor’s plan to transfer $225 million into the state’s main bank account from other state government accounts. The state has too little money in its main account to pay its bills on time.

Leaders of the GOP majorities in the House and Senate argued the internal borrowing wasn’t legal until the state had a balanced budget for the fiscal year ending June 30. They said the bill signing cleared the way for the borrowing, which is expected to take place today.

Probing barracks death

FORT LEWIS, Wash. — A 16-year-old girl found unconscious at a Fort Lewis barracks is getting better, and investigators are looking to her to explain the circumstances of another teen’s death there over the weekend, an Army spokesman said Tuesday.

The two 16-year-old girls were found at a barracks — one passed out, one dead at the scene — at 3:30 a.m. Sunday, with no outward signs of trauma. An autopsy on the dead girl has been completed, but results are not expected for at least a week.

Investigators have questioned a soldier acquainted with the girls.

The identities of both girls were withheld, but both are from the south Puget Sound area and are not military dependents.

Protesting army presence

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico — Hundreds of people blocked bridges to the United States in three border cities Tuesday, demanding the army leave in another challenge for the Mexican government as it struggles to quell escalating drug violence.

The protests in Ciudad Juarez blocked traffic for at least an hour across three bridges connecting the city to El Paso, Texas. Similar protests broke out on bridges in the border cities of Nuevo Laredo and Reynosa, while demonstrators blocked roads in the northern industrial city of Monterrey and the Gulf state of Veracruz.

It was the largest display of discontent against the army’s role in an anti-drug crackdown since President Felipe Calderon began deploying soldiers across the country two years ago to fight cartels. About 45,000 soldiers are now spread out across Mexico.

Associated Press