Nation and World Digest

September 18, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

ANKARA, Turkey

Security cameras in Turkey have recorded the sight of a baby crawling onto a highway and startling drivers who waved frantically to other motorists to get out of the way. The 1-year-old toddler survived.

The video footage from the incident Thursday was taken in the southern tourist town of Antalya and shown on Turkish television channels. It shows a baby crawling out of the arms of his mother, who had fallen asleep while begging on the sidewalk.

The baby is seen climbing down the sidewalk and sitting on the side of the highway, just a couple of feet away from passing vehicles in heavy highway traffic.

Anatolia news agency says drivers called the police, who returned the baby to his mother. She was released after a short time in custody.

Mexico’s Hurricane Karl weakens as it hits land,

VERACRUZ, Mexico Hurricane Karl smashed into Mexico’s Gulf Coast on Friday, creating havoc in the major port city of Veracruz and forcing the country to shut down its only nuclear power plant and its central Gulf Coast oil platforms.

Karl’s eye had passed Veracruz by early afternoon and sustained winds dropped to 90 mph as it headed southwest toward central Mexico, according to U.S. Hurricane Center.

The storm caused widespread damage, knocking down hundreds of trees, billboards and power poles and upending cars, said Veracruz civil protection chief Isidro Cano Luna. Eighty percent of the city was without electricity. Cano said there had not been a storm like it since Hurricane Janet in September 1955.

Local forecasters said the storm dumped 8 inches of rain in the city in the first 90 minutes. Flights into Veracruz were canceled, and public transit was shut down.

A stretch of coastal road farther north in Nautla was also washed out.

Ex-Los Alamos scientist, wife accused in plot

WASHINGTON

A scientist and his wife who both once worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory were arrested Friday after an FBI sting operation and charged with conspiring to help develop a nuclear weapon for Venezuela.

After their arrest, the two appeared in federal court in Albuquerque, N.M.

They were accused of dealing with an FBI undercover agent posing as a Venezuelan agent. The government did not allege that Venezuela or anyone working for it sought U.S. secrets.

The two were indicted for allegedly communicating classified nuclear weapons data to a person they believed to be a Venezuelan government official.

Accused in a 22-count indictment are Pedro Leonardo Mascheroni, 75, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Argentina, and Marjorie Roxby Mascheroni, 67, a U.S. citizen. Both were formerly contract employees at Los Alamos.

GOP Senate candidate in Delaware reaches out to GOP establishment

WASHINGTON

The tea party’s latest darling, Delaware GOP Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell, aligned herself squarely with the Republican Party’s social conservative base Friday in criticizing Democrats and “ruling class elites” in her first national appearance since her upset primary victory.

“They’re trying to marginalize us and put us in a box,” O’Donnell said to cheers. “They’re trying to say we’re trying to take over this party or that campaign. They don’t get it. We’re not trying to take over our country. We are our country. We have always been in charge.”

It wasn’t clear whether she was talking about the tea party or the conservative movement or both. But it didn’t seem to matter to the friendly crowd at the annual Values Voters Summit just days after she shocked the GOP with her upset of nine-term Rep. Mike Castle.

Ethics trial for Rangel, Waters unlikely before election

WASHINGTON

Highly visible ethics trials for two prominent Democrats will almost certainly be put off until after the November election, denying Republicans a televised spectacle that could influence voters near the end of campaigns dominated by economic issues.

The House ethics committee failed this past week to set a trial date for either Reps. Charles Rangel of New York or Maxine Waters of California.

Lawmakers plan to recess by Sept. 30 or soon afterward — not enough time to complete a trial. The House ethics committee is unlikely to start proceedings and then interrupt them. The committee has not announced its intentions.

Republicans are making a strong bid to regain a House majority. Their House campaign committee is preparing advertisements that will focus on Democrats who received campaign money from Rangel or Waters, and demand that the money be returned. The campaign organization also has sent news releases to 35 House districts on the same issue.

’Sexting’ Wisconsin prosecutor says he’ll get therapy

MADISON, Wis.

A Wisconsin district attorney said Friday he’ll get therapy and consider taking time off work but won’t resign despite the growing calls for him to step down over sexually tinged text messages he sent to a domestic abuse victim.

At a news conference Friday, Calumet County District Attorney Ken Kratz offered a “sincere and heartfelt apology” to the woman and his family for his lack of judgment.

He said only he would consider taking personal time off work as the court calendar will allow as he gets psychotherapy treatment.

The news conference marked the most remorse Kratz has shown in the two days since acknowledging he sent 30 text messages in three days to the 26-year-old woman last October. In one, he asked whether she was “the kind of girl that likes secret contact with an older married elected DA.”

Jupiter making closest approach to Earth in nearly 50 years,

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.

Better catch Jupiter next week in the night sky. It won’t be that big or bright again until 2022. Jupiter will pass 368 million miles from Earth late Monday, its closest approach since 1963. You can see it low in the east around dusk. Around midnight, it will be directly overhead. That’s because Earth will be passing between Jupiter and the sun, into the wee hours of Tuesday.

The solar system’s largest planet already appears as an incredibly bright star — three times brighter than the brightest star in the sky, Sirius. The only thing brighter in the night sky right now is our moon. Binoculars and telescopes will dramatically improve the view as Jupiter, along with its many moons, rises in the east as the sun sets.

“Coincidentally, Uranus also will make a close approach the same night. It will appear close to Jupiter but harder to see with the naked eye. Through a telescope, it will shine like an emerald-colored disk less than one degree from Jupiter.

Associated Press