U.S. & WORLD NEWS | Palestinians more skeptical about talks

Palestinians more skeptical about talks

RAMALLAH, West Bank

Palestinian officials said Saturday that Israel’s dismissive response to President Barack Obama’s new Mideast peace proposal proves there’s not enough common ground for meaningful negotiations. Despite such skepticism, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas seemed in no hurry to announce his next move. He instructed his advisers to avoid public comment, presumably to keep attention focused on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who appears to be set on a collision course with Obama.

6.1-magnitude quake hits South Pacific

WELLINGTON, New Zealand

The U.S. Geological Survey says a magnitude-6.1 earthquake has struck near a group of South Pacific islands. There are no reports of damage or risk of tsunami.

A statement by the USGS says the quake struck today 12 miles under the Kermadec Islands, a New Zealand group with no permanent population that lies 620 miles east of the city of Auckland.

New Zealand has been shaken by a series of quakes and aftershocks since the city of Christchurch was devastated by a temblor on Feb. 22 that killed 181 people.

A small U.S. religious group had predicted that Judgment Day would begin a day earlier, on Saturday, with an earthquake in New Zealand.

George Washington items bring $167K

DALLAS

George Washington’s compass and an assortment of other personal items, including pieces of his coffin, sold at auction Saturday for more than $167,000.

The items passed down through generations of Washington’s family were among hundreds related to the nation’s first president offered for sale by Heritage Auctions in Dallas. They were put up for auction by descendants of Washington’s brother Bushrod. The first president had no direct descendants.

The top lot was George Washington’s compass, which fetched $59,750, and a Gunter’s Scale, a 24-inch wooden ruler that was a precursor to the slide rule, that brought nearly $42,000.

Mudslides kill 16

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia

Police say two landslides that hit a Malaysian orphanage killed 15 boys and one adult, but nine other people survived.

District police chief Abdul Rashid Wahab says the bodies of 15 boys, aged 8 to 18, and a 34-year-old caretaker have been recovered. He says six boys and three wardens who were critically injured have been hospitalized.

Taliban bomber kills 6 in hospital

KABUL

In a brazen attack in Kabul’s most-secure district, a Taliban suicide bomber on a mission to target foreign-run medical teams infiltrated the capital’s main military hospital and killed at least six Afghan medical students and wounded 23 others. The bombing was a blow to Afghan and NATO forces that have sharply expanded checkpoints and security cordons in the Afghan capital as the Taliban intensifies their attacks ahead of a planned U.S. drawdown in July.

Iceland volcano begins erupting

REYKJAVIK, Iceland

Iceland’s most-active volcano has started erupting, scientists said Saturday — just over a year after another eruption on the North Atlantic island shut down European air traffic for days.

Iceland’s Meteorological Office confirmed that an eruption had begun at the Grimsvotn volcano, accompanied by a series of small earthquakes. Smoke could be seen rising from the volcano, which lies under the uninhabited Vatnajokull glacier in southeast Iceland.

Associated Press