U.S. warns Honduras

U.S. warns Honduras

MEXICO CITY — The United States is increasing pressure on the interim Honduras government, threatening to cut off millions of dollars promised for farming and transportation projects if the ousted president isn’t returned to power.

The U.S. — Honduras’ top trade partner and source of foreign aid — has been supporting President Manuel Zelaya since military officers flew the pajama-clad leader into exile in June. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is scheduled to meet with Zelaya today, and the U.S. Embassy in Honduras has stopped issuing most visas.

But Washington has not pulled its ambassador, which almost every other country in the world has done. Nor has the U.S. stated whether it’s going to recognize the outcome of presidential elections in November.

Graphic PSA is Net hit

LONDON — A graphic British public-service announcement about the dangers of sending text messages while driving has become an Internet hit and sparked debate around the world.

The Gwent police force in Wales said Wednesday that an excerpt from a video it made for use in schools has been viewed more than 6 million times on YouTube and other Web sites since it was posted last month.

The 30-minute film shows a bubbly teenager named Cassie — “a nice girl from a nice Gwent Valleys family” — who triggers a pileup that kills four people when she tries to send a text message while driving. The graphic, slow-motion depiction of the crash shows heads going through windshields, bloodied bodies and the lifeless eyes of a baby.

Talking on a hand-held mobile phone and texting while driving are both illegal in Britain.

Suspect in museum death ordered to remain jailed

WASHINGTON — An 89-year-old white supremacist charged with killing a security guard at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum was ordered to remain in jail Wednesday after prosecutors said the frail man was still dangerous because he had “no true friends” and “nothing to lose.”

A judge also ordered James von Brunn to undergo a competency evaluation despite objections from the wheelchair-bound suspect. He was otherwise nonchalant and even smiled when a prosecutor said he wanted to kill as many people as possible in the June 10 attack.

Deepest oil well in world

NEW YORK — Nearly seven miles below the Gulf of Mexico, oil company BP has tapped into a vast pool of crude after digging the deepest oil well in the world.

The Tiber Prospect is expected to rank among the largest petroleum discoveries in the United States, potentially producing half as much crude in a day as Alaska’s famous North Slope oil field.

The company’s chief of exploration estimated Wednesday that the Tiber deposit holds between 4 billion and 6 billion barrels of oil equivalent, which includes natural gas. That would be enough to satisfy U.S. demand for crude for nearly one year. But BP does not yet know how much it can extract.

Johnston: Palin wanted to adopt daughter’s baby

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Levi Johnston, the father of Sarah Palin’s grandchild, said the former Republican vice-presidential candidate wanted to adopt his child so that people wouldn’t know her 17-year-old daughter was pregnant.

In an interview with Vanity Fair, Johnston said Palin had a plan to deal with Bristol’s pregnancy.

“Sarah kept mentioning this plan. She was nagging — she wouldn’t give it up. She would say, ‘So, are you gonna let me adopt him?’ We both kept telling her we were definitely not going to let her adopt the baby. I think Sarah wanted to make Bristol look good, and she didn’t want people to know that her 17-year-old daughter was going to have a kid,” Johnston told the magazine for its October edition, which goes on sale Saturday. Excerpts of the interview were posted Wednesday on the magazine’s Web site.

Law would ban smelly people from public transit

HONOLULU — A vote on a Honolulu City Council proposal that would bar people with offensive odors from public-transit vehicles is being delayed.

The proposed ordinance would make it illegal to have “odors that unreasonably disturb others or interfere with their use of the transit system.”

Councilman Nestor Garcia said Wednesday the proposal has some technical problems that need to be addressed.

One of those is language that would allow city police to charge a violator with criminal trespass. Garcia says only the state Legislature can pass criminal statutes.

Associated Press