Torch cams to give views from statue

Torch cams to give views from statue

NEW YORK

Give me your tired, your poor — your Internet- connected masses yearning to see. Lady Liberty is getting high-tech gifts for her 125th birthday: webcams on her torch that will let viewers gaze out at New York Harbor and read the tablet in her hands or see visitors on the grounds of the island below in real time. The five torch cams are to be switched on Friday during a ceremony to commemorate the dedication of the Statue of Liberty on Oct. 28, 1886. The ceremony caps a week of events centered around the historic date, including the debut of a major museum exhibition about poet Emma Lazarus, who helped bring the monument renown as the “Mother of Exiles.”

Satellite thought to have crashed in Asia

BERLIN

A defunct German research satellite crashed into the Earth somewhere in Southeast Asia on Sunday, a U.S. scientist said — but no one is still quite sure where.

Most parts of the minivan-sized ROSAT research satellite were expected to burn up as they hit the atmosphere at speeds up to 280 mph, but up to 30 fragments weighing a total of 1.87 tons could have crashed, the German Aerospace Center said.

Clinton cautions Iran

WASHINGTON

Iran should not misread the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq as affecting the U.S. commitment to the fledgling democracy, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Sunday.

President Barack Obama’s announcement Friday that all American troops would return from Iraq by the end of the year will close a chapter on U.S.-Iraq relations that began in 2003 with the U.S.-led invasion to overthrow Saddam Hussein.

Argentine president wins re-election

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina

Argentine President Cristina Fernandez was re-elected in a landslide Sunday, buoyed by popular programs that spread the wealth of a booming economy.

Exit polls predicted Fernandez would end up with 54 percent to 55 percent of the vote, putting her far ahead of her closest rival in the biggest presidential victory since Argentina’s democracy was restored three decades ago.

Tunisians turn out for first free vote

TUNIS, Tunisia

Tunisians turned out in force for their country’s first truly free elections Sunday, voting that is expected to favor a long-banned Islamist party and seen as a bellwether for pro-democracy movements across the Arab world.

With soldiers keeping order, no violence was reported near the end of the voting, though authorities noted minor scattered violations. Thousands of observers monitored Tunisia’s first elections since an uprising overthrew the longtime leader and set off anti- government revolts around the Middle East.

Washington long has worried that meddling by Iran, a Shiite Muslim theocracy, could inflame tensions between Iraq’s Shiite-led government and its minority Sunnis, setting off a chain reaction of violence and disputes across the Mideast.

Pope Benedict names 3 new saints

VATICAN CITY

Pope Benedict XVI named three new saints for the Catholic Church during Sunday Mass in St. Peter’s Square that was disrupted by a man who climbed out onto the upper colonnade and burned a Bible.

Vatican gendarmes, a bishop and the pope’s own bodyguard talked the man back from the edge of the colonnade after he shouted, “Pope, where is Christ?” in English and threw the burned Bible to the crowd below.

Associated Press