Clinton to Russia: Honor agreement

Clinton to Russia: Honor agreement

tbilisi, georgia

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton rebuked Russia on Monday for failing to live up to the cease-fire agreement it signed nearly two years ago to end the fighting in this small former Soviet state.

She asserted that Russia is occupying parts of Georgia and building permanent military bases in contravention of the truce.

“We’re calling on the Russians to enforce the agreement they signed,” she told a news conference with Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili at her side. She said that includes pulling its troops back to the positions they held before the invasion.

Dutch agency takes blame for error

the hague, netherlands

A leading Dutch environmental agency, taking the blame for one of the glaring errors that undermined the credibility of a seminal U.N. report on climate change, said Monday it has discovered more small mistakes and urged the panel to be more careful.

But the review by the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency claimed that none of the errors effected the fundamental conclusion by U.N. panel of scientists: that global warming caused by humans already is happening and is threatening the lives and well-being of millions of people.

Manson follower hopes for parole

los angeles

Leslie Van Houten, the one-time Charles Manson follower long seen as the most likely of his ex-acolytes to win freedom someday, faces her 19th parole hearing with a new lawyer and new case law which may give her the best chance yet for release.

Even if there is a finding of suitability for parole at today’s hearing, freedom would not be immediate. The entire state parole board would review the decision within 120 days, and it would then be submitted to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for a final ruling.

Van Houten, 60, remains incarcerated at the California Institution for Women at Frontera, the same prison where another Manson follower, Patricia Krenwinkle, is imprisoned. Susan Atkins, the third woman convicted of murder in the crimes directed by cult leader Manson, died in prison last year after parole officials denied her dying request for freedom.

Bone-density tests urged for women

new york

Routine screening for osteoporosis should include all younger postmenopausal women who have at least the same chance of a bone break as an older woman, a government task force said Monday.

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force’s draft guidelines widen its 2002 advice, when it first said that all women over 65, plus those 60 to 64 at higher risk for fractures, should get a bone density test.

Imam leaves the US

new york

The imam entangled in the investigation into a suicide bomb plot against New York City subway stations left the U.S. Monday on court orders after admitting he lied to the FBI. Among his final words on U.S. soil, his lawyer says, were “God bless America.”

Ahmad Wais Afzali and his wife, Fatima, took off on a Saudi Arabian Airlines flight to Jeddah and then will go on to Mecca, where Fatima got a job teaching English, said the lawyer, Ron Kuby.

Afzali pleaded guilty April 15 in the federal case and was sentenced to time served — four days— but ordered to leave the country in 90 days.

Associated Press