Police confirm 11 victims in home, identify one

Police confirm 11 victims in home, identify one

CLEVELAND — Authorities say they have confirmed a total of at least 11 victims whose remains were found in the Cleveland home of a sex offender.

The Cuyahoga County coroner’s office said Wednesday that a skull found in a bucket in Anthony Sowell’s basement belonged to a body they have not yet found.

Authorities also say they have identified one of the victims as 53-year-old Tonia Carmichael, who disappeared a year ago.

Police Chief Michael McGrath says her remains were buried in the backyard and had marks indicating she was strangled.

Israel seizes shipment of missiles, other arms

JERUSALEM — Open crates from a cargo ship seized Wednesday by Israel revealed dark-green missiles inside. Containers from the vessel bore writing in English that said “I.R. Iranian Shipping Lines Group.”

Israel alleged that the shipment of hundreds of tons of rockets, missiles, mortars, grenades and anti-tank weapons — the largest it ever seized — was headed for Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon.

Rows of crates from the vessel were displayed on the dock, and inside were rockets, hand grenades, mortars and ammunition. At least 3,000 missiles were on board, the Israeli military said.

Ex-Hewlett-Packard CEO enters US Senate race

GARDEN GROVE, Calif. — Former Silicon Valley executive Carly Fiorina announced Wednesday she is running for the chance to seize liberal stalwart Barbara Boxer’s U.S. Senate seat, depicting the three-term Democrat as a Capitol Hill do-nothing who penned novels while jobs vanished and government spending soared.

The former Hewlett-Packard Co. CEO’s entry into the race could present California’s junior senator with her most formidable re-election challenge, but Fiorina first will have to survive what could become a scalding Republican primary against state Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, who has worked feverishly to court GOP voters.

23 Americans convicted of abducting terror suspect

MILAN, Italy — An Italian judge found 23 Americans and two Italians guilty Wednesday in the kidnapping of an Egyptian terror suspect, delivering the first legal convictions anywhere in the world against people involved in the CIA’s extraordinary-renditions program.

Human-rights groups hailed the decision and pressed President Barack Obama to repudiate the Bush administration’s practice of abducting terror suspects and transferring them to third countries where torture was permitted.

The Obama administration ended the CIA’s interrogation program and shuttered its secret overseas jails in January but has opted to continue the practice of extraordinary renditions.

Cat tests positive for H1N1

WASHINGTON — Does the H1N1-flu pandemic pose a threat to your pet? Yes, according to a report out Wednesday from the American Veterinary Medical Association.

A cat in Iowa has tested positive for the H1N1 virus, state officials confirmed Wednesday morning, “marking the first time a cat has been diagnosed with this strain of influenza,” the association said in a statement.

“The cat, which has recovered, is believed to have caught the virus from someone in the household who was sick with H1N1. There are no indications that the cat passed the virus on to any other animals or people,” the statement said.

Doctor group’s alliance with Coke causes outcry

CHICAGO — Advice about soft drinks and health from one of the nation’s largest doctors groups will soon be brought to you by Coke.

The American Academy of Family Physicians has prompted outcry and lost members over its new, six-figure alliance with the Coca-Cola Co. The deal will fund educational materials about soft drinks for the academy’s consumer health and wellness Web site, www.FamilyDoctor.org.

Academy CEO Dr. Douglas Henley said Wednesday that the deal won’t influence the group’s public-health messages and that the company will have no control over editorial content. He said the new online information will include research linking soft drinks with obesity and will focus on sugar-free alternatives.

But critics say the Coke deal will water down the advice.

Harvard University nutrition expert Dr. Walter Willett said in an e-mail that the academy “should be a loud critic of these products and practices, but by signing with Coke their voice has almost surely been muzzled.”

Combined dispatches