Natalee Holloway declared dead

Natalee Holloway declared dead

BIRMINGHAM, Ala.

The parents of Natalee Holloway looked on somberly as a judge declared their child dead Thursday, more than six years after the American teenager vanished during a high-school graduation trip to the Caribbean island of Aruba.

Natalee Holloway disappeared in Aruba on May 30, 2005. The 18-year-old was last seen leaving a bar early that morning with a young Dutchman, Joran van der Sloot. Her body was never found, and the ensuing searches for the young woman would reap intense media scrutiny and worldwide attention.

Thursday’s hearing was scheduled long before van der Sloot — a suspect questioned in Holloway’s disappearance — pleaded guilty Wednesday in Peru to the 2010 murder of a woman he met at a casino in Lima.

UN team to visit Iran for nuke talks

VIENNA

A senior U.N. nuclear- agency team will visit Tehran on Jan. 28 with Iran saying it is ready after years of refusal to discuss allegations that it was involved in secret nuclear-weapons work, diplomats said Thursday.

Diplomats previously have said that International Atomic Energy Agency officials were discussing such a trip with their Iranian counterparts. But before the diplomats’ comments Thursday, no date — or indication that Iran was ready to talk about the allegations — had been mentioned.

Any follow-through on the part of Iran on its reported pledge to discuss nuclear- arms suspicions would be significant.

Scientists: Quick fix for global warming

WASHINGTON

An international team of scientists says it’s figured out how to slow global warming in the short run and prevent millions of deaths from dirty air: Stop focusing so much on carbon dioxide.

They say the key is to reduce emissions of two powerful and fast-acting causes of global warming: methane and soot.

Carbon dioxide is the chief greenhouse gas and the one world leaders have spent the most time talking about controlling. Scientists say carbon dioxide from fossil fuels such as coal and oil is a bigger overall cause of global warming, but reducing methane and soot offers quicker fixes.

Japan’s premier reshuffles Cabinet

TOKYO

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda is reshuffling his Cabinet in a bid to win more cooperation from the opposition to raise the sales tax and rein in the country’s bulging fiscal deficit.

His ministers resigned en masse today to pave the way for a new lineup to be announced later in the day. Public broadcaster NHK said Noda would retain 12 of 17 positions, including the finance and foreign ministers.

Obama, DNC raise $68M at end of 2011

WASHINGTON

President Barack Obama hauled in more than $68 million for his campaign and the Democratic Party during the final three months of 2011, a show of force that allows him to compete — for now at least — in the new reality of freewheeling outside political groups.

The latest infusion of money, announced Thursday, adds up to more than $220 million in 2011 for the president’s re-election campaign and the Democratic National Committee, putting Obama far ahead of Republican presidential candidates. In most years, it might amount to a substantial fundraising advantage, but a flurry of super PACs and big-dollar independent groups have changed the rules of campaign money.

Associated Press