European May Day rallies

European May Day rallies

PARIS — Hundreds of thousands of European workers feeling the pinch of the economic crisis rallied at May Day protests Friday from Moscow to Berlin to Istanbul.

Violence and clashes between police and angry protesters disrupted some events, including in Greece, Germany and Turkey. But overall participation fell short of what many countries’ unions had hoped for on May Day, a public holiday in many countries that has long celebrated the social and economic achievements of labor movements.

1st female poet laureate

LONDON — The centuries-old post of British poet laureate, bard to kings and queens, has been held by William Wordsworth, Alfred Lord Tennyson and Ted Hughes — but never, until Friday, by a woman.

Carol Ann Duffy, 53, said she hesitated before accepting the job, which brings a high public profile and an expectation to rhapsodize about royal weddings, funerals and major state occasions.

In the end, she left the decision to her 13-year-old daughter, Ella: “She said, ‘Yes mummy, there’s never been a woman.’”

A witty and popular writer whose work is widely taught in British schools, Duffy is also the first openly gay poet laureate.

Guilty plea in drug case

McALLEN, Texas — A former south Texas sheriff pleaded guilty Friday to a drug-trafficking charge for sharing law enforcement information with a Mexican drug ring.

Reymundo Guerra entered the plea to conspiring to distribute narcotics while he was Starr County sheriff. As part of a plea deal that recommended dropping two other charges, prosecutors called him a “minor participant.”

Federal prosecutors said Guerra helped the Mexican Gulf Cartel to operate in his county and endangered fellow law enforcement agents by sharing names of confidential informants.

5th vet positive for HIV

MIAMI — The Department of Veterans Affairs says a fifth patient has tested positive for HIV and an additional seven have tested positive for hepatitis after being exposed to contaminated medical equipment at three VA hospitals.

The department says 33 people have now tested positive for hepatitis.

They are among thousands who got blood tests because they were treated with equipment that wasn’t properly sterilized and exposed them to the body fluids of others. The equipment is often used in colonoscopies and ear, nose and throat procedures.

Troops become citizens

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama told two dozen members of the U.S. military who were sworn in Friday as U.S. citizens that they are “living examples” of America’s promise.

Obama took the podium, looked around the room, and said he was honored “to be the first to address you as my fellow Americans.” The audience burst into applause.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano administered the oath of citizenship.

Fewer flights to Mexico

DALLAS — Most of the largest U.S. carriers said Friday they will temporarily reduce service to Mexico, as swine flu fears keep many U.S. travelers from venturing south of the border.

Continental Airlines Inc., the biggest U.S. carrier to Mexico, said it will cut by half the number of seats it sells to fly to Mexico beginning Monday.

Delta Air Lines Inc. announced late Friday that it too will reduce its Mexico service to match declining demand, but it didn’t indicate how deep the cuts would be.

UAL Corp.’s United Airlines said it will cut its weekly flights to Mexico from 61 to 24 this month, beginning Tuesday. Its June schedule will drop from 90 flights per week to 52.

Suspect search continues

BOGART, Ga. — Authorities on Friday swarmed a heavily wooded area in north Georgia where a wrecked red Jeep belonging to a former professor suspected of killing his wife and two others was discovered not far from his home.

There was still no sign of George Zinkhan, however. More than 200 law enforcement officers were searching a 200-acre area. Zinkhan has been missing for nearly a week. His Jeep was found overnight “well off the beaten path” in a ravine in Bogart, a rural community about 10 miles west of Athens, where Zinkhan lived and taught marketing at the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business, FBI agent Greg Jones said.

Authorities across the nation and in Europe have been looking for Zinkhan, 57, since the April 25 shootings.

Associated Press