Ex-secretary of state Christopher dies

Ex-secretary of state Christopher dies

Warren M. Christopher, a key figure in peace efforts in Bosnia and the Mideast as secretary of state in the Clinton administration, has died, a spokeswoman for his law firm said Saturday. He was 85.

Christopher died at his home in Los Angeles late Friday of complications from bladder and kidney cancer, said Sonja Steptoe of the law firm O’Melveny & Myers, where Christopher was a senior partner.

A longtime Californian, Christopher also headed a panel that pushed a number of Los Angeles Police Department reforms after the 1992 riots.

A loyal Democrat and meticulous lawyer, Christopher also supervised the contested Florida recount for Al Gore in the 2000 presidential election. The Supreme Court, on a 5-4 vote, decided for George W. Bush.

US ambassador to Mexico resigns

WASHINGTON

U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Carlos Pascual, who criticized his host government’s handling of the drug problem in a cable divulged by the WikiLeaks website, has resigned, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Saturday.

President Felipe Calderon, who met earlier this month with Obama at the White House, had taken umbrage publicly in February over remarks Pascual made in a diplomatic cable about the Mexicans’ handling of the anti-drug-trafficking effort there.

‘Miracle on Hudson’ jet going to museum

HARRISON, N.J.

To stand inside the cabin of the US Airways jet that crash-landed on the Hudson River is to imagine, even briefly, some of the terror that must have overtaken the 155 people aboard as the plane descended onto the icy water.

The plane’s interior is largely undisturbed from the Jan. 15, 2009, landing but is littered with reminders — and a coating of dried mud. A stethoscope from a first-aid kit lies on the floor in one row, while unused life jackets still wrapped in plastic sit on seats. Many seat cushions are gone, grabbed by passengers as they exited onto a wing.

The world will be able to relive the triumph of what has been dubbed “The Miracle on the Hudson” when the Airbus A320 is shipped this spring from a northern New Jersey warehouse to Charlotte, N.C., for an exhibit at the Carolinas Aviation Museum.

Protesters arrested

WASHINGTON

More than 100 anti-war demonstrators, including the man who leaked the Pentagon Papers, were arrested outside the White House on Saturday in demonstrations marking the eighth anniversary of the U.S.-led war in Iraq.

The protesters were arrested after ignoring orders to move away from the gates of the White House. The demonstrators cheered as Daniel Ellsberg, the former military analyst who in 1971 leaked the Pentagon’s secret history of the Vietnam War that was later published in major newspapers, was arrested and led away by police.

Sting nails 14 out of 14 NY tour buses

ALBANY, N.Y.

A sting operation by New York state transportation investigators and law enforcement a week after a horrific, fatal tour-bus crash included a single stop in Manhattan in which all 14 tour buses pulled over were ordered off the road, a state official familiar with the investigation said Saturday.

State investigators reported nine “major issues” Friday night with the drivers, including lack of an updated log book required to show how long a driver has been behind the wheel, the official told The Associated Press.

Associated Press