Clinton: Pressure Iran on nukes with sanctions

Clinton: Pressure Iran on nukes with sanctions

HONOLULU — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday the Obama administration has concluded that the best way to pressure Iran to come clean on its nuclear ambitions is to impose sanctions aimed at the country’s ruling elite.

“It is clear that there is a relatively small group of decision makers inside Iran,” she told reporters traveling with her on the first leg of a nine-day trip across the Pacific. “They are in both political and commercial relationships, and if we can create a sanctions track that targets those who actually make the decisions, we think that is a smarter way to do sanctions. But all that is yet to be decided upon.”

Clinton spoke as officials from the six nations trying to persuade Iran to prove its nuclear intentions are peaceful said senior diplomats from the group were preparing to meet possibly later this week to discuss the way ahead, including potential new sanctions.

Famous strongman hit by minivan, dies at age 104

NEW YORK — A famed strongman who once lifted 3,200 pounds at Coney Island during its heyday and was still bending quarters with his fingers at age 104 died Monday after he was hit by a minivan.

Joe Rollino was struck as he crossed Bay Ridge Parkway in Brooklyn, and suffered a broken pelvis, head trauma and broken ribs. He died a few hours later at an area hospital.

During his storied life, Rollino hobnobbed with Harry Houdini, watched Jack Dempsey knock out Jess Willard and was friendly with Mario Lanza. He even had a bit part in “On the Waterfront.”

Rollino would have been 105 on March 19, and was the model of health, according to friends. A vegetarian for life, he didn’t drink or smoke, his friends said, and he exercised every day. He was a lifetime boxer and was part of the Oldetime Barbell and Strongmen, an organization of men who can still rip book bindings at the seam.

UNICEF program fails to reduce deaths, study says

LONDON — A UNICEF program that spent $27 million to decrease child deaths from disease in West Africa has failed, according to a new study that found a higher survival rate in some regions that weren’t included in the program.

The U.N. children’s agency pursued strategies such as vaccinating children, giving them vitamin A pills and distributing bed nets to protect against malaria from 2001 to 2005 in parts of 11 countries.

The aim was to reduce the death rate by at least 25 percent by the end of 2006.

An analysis of the program in Benin, Ghana and Mali found children in areas where it wasn’t in effect had a better chance of surviving past age 5 than children who were covered by it. The study was published online today in the British medical journal Lancet.

NJ lawmakers approve medical-marijuana bill

TRENTON, N.J. — The Legislature on Monday approved a bill that would allow chronically ill patients access to marijuana for medical reasons.

Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine supports the legislation and could sign it before leaving office next week, which would make New Jersey the 14th state to allow medicinal marijuana use.

Woman who hid Franks from Nazis dies at 100

AMSTERDAM — The Anne Frank Museum says Miep Gies, who helped the teenage diarist’s family hide from the Nazis, has died. She was 100.

The Miep Gies Web site said the woman who rescued Anne Frank’s diary after the family was arrested in 1944 died after a short illness Monday.

Gies and several other employees of Anne Frank’s father provided food and other necessities to the Jewish family while they hid in a concealed apartment for 25 months. Anne Frank died of typhus in a concentration camp.

Blagojevich apologizes for comparison to Obama

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Rod Blagojevich apologized Monday for saying he’s “blacker than Barack Obama,” but the disgraced former Illinois governor said he probably won’t try to make amends directly to the president.

“I’d be happy to but, you know, I don’t have the phone number,” he told reporters outside his Chicago home.

In the February issue of Esquire magazine, the ousted governor refers to Obama as “this guy” who was elected based simply on hope, implying that the president isn’t genuine.

The story hits newsstands Jan. 19.

“I’m blacker than Barack Obama. I shined shoes. I grew up in a five-room apartment,” Blagojevich said.

Associated Press