Nation & World Digest

2.1 million cribs recalled

WASHINGTON — Government safety regulators say more than 2.1 million drop-side cribs by Stork Craft Manufacturing are being recalled, the biggest crib recall in U.S. history.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission says the recall involves 1.2 million cribs in the United States and almost 1 million in Canada, where Stork Craft is based.

Nearly 150,000 of the cribs recalled carry the Fisher-Price logo.

The agency is aware of four deaths of young children who suffocated in the cribs, which have a side that moves up and down to allow parents to lift children from the cribs more easily.

The Stork Craft cribs have had problems with their hardware, which can break, or with assembly mistakes by the crib owner.

Obama to welcome Indian prime minister

WASHINGTON — Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Monday that Indian and U.S. officials will sign a memorandum intended to improve cooperation on energy security, clean energy and climate change.

Speaking on the eve of an elaborate welcome at the White House planned by President Barack Obama, the prime minister did not provide details of the memorandum he said will be signed today. He will use the White House visit to ease differences on global warming with the United States ahead of an international conference next month.

India has watched with wariness as Obama’s administration has lavished attention on rivals Pakistan and China.

FBI: Hate crimes against gays, religious groups up

WASHINGTON — Reports of hate crimes against gays and religious groups increased sharply in 2008, according to FBI data released Monday.

Overall, the number of reported hate-crime incidents increased about 2 percent. These same figures show a nearly 11 percent increase in hate-crime offenses based on sexual orientation, and a nearly 9 percent increase in hate- crime offenses based on religion.

The largest category, racially motivated hate crimes, fell less than 1 percent.

Joe Solmonese, president of Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest gay civil-rights group, called the numbers unacceptable and said they showed the need for the expanded federal hate-crimes law signed last month by President Barack Obama.

Study links chemical to behavioral differences

WASHINGTON — Elevated levels of two plastic-softening chemicals in pregnant women’s urine are linked to less-masculine play behavior by their sons several years later, according to a study published last week in the International Journal of Andrology.

Phthalates, which are used in everything from vinyl floors to plastic tubing and soaps and lotions, are pervasive in the environment and have increasingly become associated with changes in development of the male brain as well as with genital defects, metabolic abnormalities and reduced testosterone in babies and adults.

Hopes high on exchange of prisoners in Mideast

JERUSALEM — Hamas leaders raced to Egypt on Monday amid signs of progress on a deal to swap hundreds of Palestinian prisoners for a captive Israeli soldier held by the Islamic militant group for more than three years.

The exchange could boost Hamas at the expense of its key rival, Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, in part because one of the prisoners to be freed is Marwan Barghouti, his main challenger.

Officials on both sides cautioned against exaggerated optimism that a deal is about to be concluded. Even so, conditions for a deal appear to be ripening on both sides.

SC governor accused of breaking 37 ethics laws

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Gov. Mark Sanford is accused of breaking 37 ethics laws regarding campaign finances and travel, including using taxpayer money for high-priced airplane tickets that took him around the world and to Argentina for a rendezvous with the woman he once called his “soul mate.”

The governor’s attorney said he looks forward to answering the “technical questions” regarding Sanford’s travel and finances at a State Ethics Commission hearing early next year. Details of the civil charges were released Monday and carry a maximum $74,000 in fines.

They came after a three-month investigation by the panel and could be pivotal in a push by some South Carolina lawmakers to remove the Republican governor from office before his second and final term expires in January 2011.

Combined dispatches