Rep resigns over sex allegations

July 27, 2011 at 12:00a.m.

WASHINGTON

Democratic Rep. David Wu of Oregon announced Tuesday that he will resign amid the political fallout from an 18-year-old woman’s allegations of an unwanted sexual encounter with him.

Wu already had said that he would not seek re-election, but he had come under increasing pressure to step down. Shortly after the allegations broke, Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi requested a House Ethics Committee investigation of his conduct.

Wu faced allegations in his 2004 campaign that he had sexually assaulted a former girlfriend when they were students at Stanford University in the 1970s.

Teenage assassin sentenced to 3 years

MIACATLAN, Mexico

A Mexican judge on Tuesday sentenced a 14-year-old U.S. citizen to three years in prison for homicide, kidnapping and drug and weapons possession. Authorities say the teen confessed killing four people whose beheaded bodies were found suspended from a bridge. Edgar Jimenez Lugo, known as “El Ponchis,” was given the maximum sentenced allowed for a minor in the central state of Morelos, said state prosecutor Jose Manuel Serrano Falmerol. Jimenez was tried in a state court because Mexico does not have a justice system to try minors at the federal level.

Foes of gay-history law seek referendum

SACRAMENTO, Calif.

California’s secretary of state on Tuesday cleared a group to begin collecting signatures for a ballot referendum to overturn a first-in-the-nation law requiring public schools to teach the contributions of gays and lesbians in social-studies lessons

Gov. Jerry Brown signed SB48 earlier this month, making California the first state to mandate such lessons in the public-school curriculum. The requirement is set to take effect in the 2013-14 school year.

Doctor: Mubarak refuses to eat

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt

Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has refused to eat for four days, has lost weight and is weak, his chief doctor said Tuesday, increasing speculation that the ousted leader won’t stand trial next week as scheduled.

Any delay in Mubarak’s trial likely would further inflame tensions between the military council ruling Egypt since Mubarak’s fall and protesters frustrated with the pace of change.

Man tries surgery with butter knife

GLENDALE, Calif.

A Southern California man stuck a butter knife into his belly in a failed bid at self-surgery to remove a painful hernia, police said Tuesday.

The wife of the 63-year-old Glendale man called 911 on Sunday night and told the emergency operator her husband was using a knife to remove a protruding hernia, Sgt. Tom Lorenz said.

Officers found the man naked on a patio lounge chair outside his apartment with a 6-inch butter knife sticking out of his stomach. The man’s wife told officers that her husband was upset about the hernia and wanted to take it out.

While waiting for paramedics, the sergeant said, the man pulled out the knife and stuffed a cigarette he was smoking into the bleeding, open wound.

The man wasn’t screaming or showing any signs of pain, the sergeant said.

Based on his actions and statements from the wife, Lorenz said the man was placed on psychiatric hold and taken to Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center.

Associated Press