NYC mayor: Work on museum stalled

NYC mayor: Work on museum stalled

NEW YORK

Work on a planned museum at the World Trade Center has ground to a halt because of a financial dispute, and there is now no possibility it will open on time next year, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Thursday. The underground museum commemorating victims of the 9/11 attacks was scheduled to open in September on the 11th anniversary of the disaster, a year after the opening of a memorial at the site that already has drawn 1 million visitors.

North Korea: Don’t expect any change

PYONGYANG, North Korea

North Korea is entering a new era of leadership by “solemnly and confidently” declaring that rival South Korea and other nations shouldn’t expect any change.

North Korea has ended 11 days of official mourning for leader Kim Jong Il. His son Kim Jong Un has been declared supreme leader of the ruling party and military.

Pyongyang’s National Defense Commission said in a statement today that the North will never deal with the “traitor group” led by South Korean President Lee Myung-bak. It says the North will unite around leader Kim Jong Un.

Last Vt. highway opened after floods

STOCKBRIDGE, Vt.

After hundreds of thousands of tons of rock were hauled out and tens of thousands of man-hours were spent, Vermont celebrated the completion of the biggest single engineering challenge after the flooding from the remnants of Hurricane Irene. Just in time for the new year, and four months after the storm hit, Route 107 between Bethel and Stockbridge was reopened Thursday. The state highway, a major east-west thoroughfare, is the last to reopen after being closed by flooding.

Chavez: US behind leaders’ cancers?

CARACAS, Venezuela

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez speculated late Wednesday that the United States may be responsible for a spate of cancers among Latin American leaders.

The left-wing leader, who earlier this year underwent an operation to remove a tumor, did not rule out the possibility that the United States had developed a secret technology to cause cancer in individuals.

However this could only be verified in 50 years’ time, Chavez claimed.

The comments came hours after it emerged that Argentinian President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner is to undergo surgery for thyroid cancer.

Former Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is recovering from cancer of the larynx, while current Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo also have been diagnosed with cancer in recent years.

2 die in 40-vehicle pileup in Louisiana

NEW ORLEANS

Two men died and 61 other people were injured Thursday in a pre-dawn pileup involving about 40 cars, vans and other vehicles on a busy interstate that crosses New Orleans, closing the route for hours both ways, police said.

Drivers said they drove into thick smoke or fog that abruptly limited visibility on westbound lanes of Interstate 10 heading across eastern New Orleans. Those who came upon the scene said they heard injured motorists pleading for assistance.

Officer Garry Flot, a police spokesman, would not talk about possible causes, including whether those may have included smoke or fog.

All lanes were reopened late Thursday afternoon as the investigation continued, letting commuters head home at rush hour.

Combined dispatches