2 fatally shot at plant in Cleveland

2 fatally shot at plant in Cleveland

CLEVELAND

Cleveland police have identified the two people who were shot to death at an Ohio manufacturing plant.

Sgt. Sammy Morris says 49-year-old Graciela Morales and 49-year-old Eduardo Pupo, both of Cleveland, were killed Friday afternoon at ParkOhio Products, where they worked.

Morris says the gunman was 50-year-old Pedro Rodriguez of Cleveland. Police say Morales had filed a menacing by stalking report against Rodriguez in July but later decided not to press charges.

Police say Rodriguez shot Morales in her car, then used her employee identification card to enter the factory and kill Pupo before fleeing.

ParkOhio Holdings Corp. says in a statement that the company is shocked and saddened by the shootings and has suspended operations at the facility.

French Senate OKs pension overhaul

PARIS

Under pressure from the government, the French Senate voted Friday to raise the retirement age from 60 to 62, a victory for President Nicolas Sarkozy after days of street rage, acrimonious debate and strikes that dried up the supply of gasoline across the country.

The vote all but sealed passage of the highly unpopular measure, but it was unlikely to end the increasingly radicalized protests. The coming days promised more work stoppages and demonstrations by those who feel changing the retirement age threatens a French birthright.

Number of diabetics could triple by 2050

ATLANTA

As many as 1 in 3 U.S. adults could have diabetes by 2050, federal officials announced Friday in a dramatic new projection that represents a threefold increase.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that 1 in 10 have diabetes now, but the number could grow to 1 in 5 or even 1 in 3 by midcentury if current trends continue.

“This is alarming,” said Ann Albright, director of the CDC’s Division of Diabetes Translation.

Mideast sides eye US midterm election

JERUSALEM

Israelis and Palestinians are closely watching next month’s U.S. midterm race amid a sense — rarely discussed openly but very much on people’s minds — that the result could affect the U.S.-led peace effort, and President Obama’s ability to coax concessions from Israel.

Animating the discussion is the startling fact that the United States has failed, despite emphatic public appeals by Obama and weeks of increasingly frustrating diplomacy, to persuade Israel to extend the settlement-building slowdown that expired Sept. 26.

That caused Palestinians to in effect suspend the U.S.-brokered peace talks just weeks after they began.

NPR gets earful on Williams’ firing

WASHINGTON

NPR and its public-radio stations around the country got an earful from listeners and angry citizens in the middle of pledge season Friday over its firing of commentator Juan Williams, receiving thousands of complaints and scattered threats to withhold donations.

Still, a number of major stations said they are meeting or surpassing their fund-raising goals in the wake of the furor over Williams’ dismissal for saying he gets nervous on a plane when he sees Muslims.

Meanwhile, conservative leaders including Sarah Palin are calling on Congress to cut off NPR’s federal funding — an idea that also was raised in the 1990s and didn’t get very far.

Associated Press