Iran sentences 2 from US to 8 years
Iran sentences 2 from US to 8 years
TEHRAN, Iran
Two American men arrested more than two years ago while hiking along the Iraq-Iran border have been sentenced to eight years in prison on charges that include espionage, state TV reported Saturday, a sharp blow to hopes their release was imminent.
The announcement seemed to send a hard-line message from Iran’s judiciary — which answers directly to the ruling clerics — weeks after the country’s foreign minister suggested that the trial of Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal could clear the way for their freedom.
Israel apologizes to Egypt for 3 deaths
CAIRO
Eager to head off a diplomatic crisis with its most- important peace partner, Israel apologized to Egypt on Saturday for the deaths of three Egyptian soldiers who were accidentally killed last week during an Israeli military incursion into the Sinai peninsula.
But even if a deeper fracture was averted by the rare expression of regret, a spat that saw Egypt threaten to recall its ambassador is another sign of the rising ill will between the two key U.S. allies.
Verizon workers to return to work
NEW YORK
Thousands of striking Verizon workers will return to work starting Monday night, though their contract dispute isn’t over.
Both the company and the union say they have agreed to narrow the issues in dispute and have set up a process to negotiate a new contract. But the talks are likely to be contentious.
12 die in crash of plane in Arctic
RESOLUTE BAY, Nunavut, canada
A chartered Boeing 737 plane crashed Saturday afternoon in Canada’s Arctic region, killing 12 people, police said.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said the plane went down near the hamlet of Resolute Bay in the Arctic territory of Nunavut. The First Air charter flight was traveling from Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories to Resolute Bay and was scheduled to continue on to Ellesmere Island.
RCMP Constable Angelique Dignard said 12 people died in the crash, and three people were injured.
Historic marker at ‘Deep Throat’ site
ARLINGTON, Va.
A nondescript parking garage where Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward met his Watergate source known as “Deep Throat” now has a historical marker.
WTOP Radio reports the historic-preservation agency in Arlington, Va., quietly installed the marker this month. It was approved in 2008. Now it stands near the garage entrance.
This is the place where Mark Felt, the FBI’s second in command, met Woodward to discuss Watergate. Felt provided information that exposed the Nixon administration’s obstruction of the FBI’s investigation.
Subway clerk cuts power, averts suicide
NEW YORK
A New York City subway clerk thwarted a suicide attempt at his Manhattan station by cutting the power to the tracks as a train approached.
Marty Goodman, 62, tells The New York Daily News that he raced from his booth early Friday morning when a man jumped from the subway platform.
The agent said he tried to persuade the man to climb back up off the tracks but had to act fast when he heard an announcement that a train was one station away.
Goodman found a power shutoff in the tunnel and threw the switch. Police and firefighters were on the scene shortly and took the distraught man to a hospital.
Combined dispatches