U.S. & WORLD NEWS DIGEST | Northeast Australia battered by storm

Northeast Australia battered by storm

INNISFAIL, Australia

The most-powerful storm in a century ripped across Australia’s northeast coast early today, blasting apart houses, laying waste to banana crops and leaving boats lying in the streets of wind- and wave-swept towns.

Authorities said they were surprised to learn at daybreak that no one had been reported killed but cautioned that bad news eventually could emerge from communities still cut off after the overnight storm, which left several thousand people homeless.

Giffords’ husband to decide on mission

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’ husband will decide soon whether he will blast off aboard space shuttle Endeavour in April, his twin brother said from orbit Wednesday.

Scott Kelly said Mark is holding up “very well” and tells him that his wife, the wounded congresswoman, is improving every day in rehab in Houston.

Scott Kelly, the space station’s commander, said he expects his brother to make a decision on his NASA flight status “fairly soon.”

O.J. Simpson loses request for appeal

LAS VEGAS

A trio of Nevada Supreme Court justices issued a terse two-word order Wednesday rejecting O.J. Simpson’s request to revive the appeal of his conviction in a Las Vegas casino-hotel room heist.

“Rehearing denied,” the three justices said.

Simpson lawyer Malcolm LaVergne told The Associated Press the ruling was expected and said he expects the 63-year-old former football star will want to appeal to the entire seven-member state high court.

Simpson is serving nine to 33 years in a Nevada prison on kidnapping, armed robbery and other charges.

UK scientists create mad-cow blood test

LONDON

British scientists have developed a preliminary blood test that one day could be used to detect the proteins that cause the human form of mad-cow disease, according to a new study.

The disease-carrying proteins, or prions, that cause variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease can remain dormant for decades, and there are no reliable tests to detect them. After the mad-cow scare that hit Britain in the 1980s, some experts fear there might be thousands of hidden cases in the country.

Principal shot, killed in California

PLACERVILLE, Calif.

A school janitor was arrested Wednesday in the killing of a Northern California elementary-school principal who was hailed as a role model for other educators. No children were hurt in the late-morning shooting in the office at Louisiana Schnell Elementary School in Placerville, but one student may have witnessed the shooting, Police Chief George Nielson said.

Principal Sam LaCara, 50, died in the attack, Nielson said.

Authorities said they arrested janitor John Luebbers, 44, at his home about an hour after launching a manhunt. Investigators were trying to determine a motive for the shooting about 50 miles east of Sacramento.

Canadian rescued from Lake Erie

CLEVELAND

The U.S. Coast Guard says it has rescued a snowmobiler who floated into Lake Erie from Canada after falling into the water and climbing onto a loose piece of ice about the size of a football field.

Jim Turton of Colchester, Ontario, floated for about nine hours before being rescued about 8:30 a.m. Wednesday — his 45th birthday — by the crew of an ice-breaking tug temporarily assigned to the Great Lakes from New London, Conn.

Associated Press