NATION & WORLD || Sharpton threatens to sue Limbaugh

Sharpton threatens to sue Limbaugh

NEW YORK — The Rev. Al Sharpton on Saturday threatened to sue conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh for writing in a column that the civil-rights leader played a role in two New York race riots.

In a column published by the Wall Street Journal on Saturday about his derailed bid to become part-owner of the St. Louis Rams, Limbaugh accuses Sharpton and the Rev. Jesse Jackson of making comments that helped get him booted from a group that was trying to buy the NFL team.

Limbaugh derided Sharpton as having played “a leading role in the 1991 Crown Heights riot” and the “1995 Freddie’s Fashion Mart riot.”

Those comments prompted a quick retort from Sharpton, who called both allegations false.

Sharpton was not present for or involved in the rioting in Brooklyn’s Crown Heights section in August 1991, during which hundreds of blacks were involved in attacks on the neighborhood’s Jewish residents. He did deliver a eulogy at the funeral of the youth whose death in a traffic accident triggered the violence, but that didn’t happen until the violence ended.

Hurricane strengthens into Category 5 storm

MEXICO CITY — Hurricane Rick strengthened into an “extremely dangerous” Category 5 storm off Mexico’s Pacific coast Saturday, and forecasters said it could strike the Baja California Peninsula next week.

The storm had sustained winds of 160 mph, the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami reported, though it said the storm was likely to lose some of that punch before hitting land.

Forecasters said Rick was projected to stay well off the coast for several days before bending east over cooler waters and hitting the Baja California Peninsula, perhaps as a Category 2 hurricane, sometime Wednesday.

Authorities in the resort of Acapulco closed the port to small craft after Rick kicked up heavy waves and gusts of wind.

“There are waves of 7 to 8 feet, and gusts of wind,” said Victor Cruz Lopez, the watch officer at the port captain’s office.

Drug traffickers shoot down police helicopter

RIO DE JANEIRO — Drug traffickers shot down a police helicopter during a gunbattle between rival gangs Saturday, killing two officers and injuring four in a burst of violence just two weeks after the city was chosen to host the 2016 Olympic Games.

Ten suspected drug traffickers were also killed during the fighting in a shantytown, and two bystanders were injured, officials said.

Bullets flying from the Morro dos Macacos (“Monkey Hill” in Portuguese) slum in northern Rio de Janeiro tore into the helicopter and hit the pilot in the leg as he hovered above the shootout, causing him to lose control and crash.

Two officers died, and the pilot and three other policemen escaped after the craft hit the ground on a football field and burst into flames. The pilot and a second officer suffered burns and bullet wounds. The other two officers also were burned, one gravely, said Mario Sergio Duarte, head of Rio state’s military police.

Associated Press