National and World News Digest

Soldier reaches deal in Afghan shootings

JOINT BASE LEWIS-McCHORD, Wash.

An Army staff sergeant charged with shooting at unarmed Afghans this year has pleaded guilty in a deal that requires him to testify against other defendants.

Staff Sgt. Robert Stevens of Portland, Ore., admitted aggravated assault and other charges at his court-martial Wednesday. Prosecutors dropped a conspiracy charge.

Five soldiers are charged with murdering three Afghan civilians for kicks this year. Stevens is not one of them, but he admitted that in March he followed an order from Staff Sgt. Calvin Gibbs to shoot at two Afghans in a field who posed no threat. Those Afghans were not injured.

A military judge sentenced Stevens to nine months in confinement and a reduction in rank.

Calif. OKs pesticide linked to cancer

FRESNO, Calif.

California regulators approved a pesticide Wednesday for use by fruit and vegetable growers despite heavy opposition from environmental and farmworker groups that cited its links to cancer.

The state Department of Pesticide Regulation will register methyl iodide as a substitute for the pesticide methyl bromide, which is being phased out by international treaty because it depletes the Earth’s ozone layer.

The pesticide is included on California’s official list of cancer-causing chemicals, and the department’s own scientific advisory panel has raised concerns that it could poison the air and water.

Inventor of neutron bomb dies at 89

LOS ANGELES

Neutron-bomb inventor Samuel T. Cohen, who in 1958 designed the tactical nuclear weapon intended to kill people but do minimal damage to cities, has died in Los Angeles at 89.

Cohen’s son Paul Cohen told the Los Angeles Times and New York Times on Wednesday that his father died of stomach cancer Sunday.

Cohen advocated for the neutron bomb as a more-moral alternative to other nuclear weapons.

The neutron bomb used tiny particles that could zip through objects with minimal damage but kill humans.

Boehner to create ladies’ room off floor

WASHINGTON

Call it congressional potty parity.

House Speaker-to-be John Boehner is planning to install the first women’s restroom next to the floor of the House of Representatives.

Boehner’s office says he’ll direct the Architect of the Capitol to convert an office into a ladies’ room just steps away from where lawmakers cast votes and debate legislation. It mirrors the space occupied by a men’s restroom on the other side of the House chamber.

Female members of the House have long complained that while their male colleagues can duck in and out of a men’s room right next to the chamber, their closest available restroom is much farther away in the Congressional Women’s Reading Room, across the ornate Statuary Hall.

Europe deals with snow, low temps

GENEVA

Heavy snow and subzero temperatures swept across Europe, killing at least eight homeless people in Poland, closing major airports in Britain and Switzerland and causing hundreds of highway accidents.

Gatwick, London’s second-largest airport, and Geneva, a major hub for low-cost carrier Easyjet, were forced to shut down Wednesday as staff struggled to clear runways of snow. Edinburgh airport in Scotland, Leeds airport in northern England, and Chambery and Grenoble in southeastern France were also closed.

Associated Press