Pressure to find missing American

Pressure to find missing American

WASHINGTON

The Obama administration faced intensified pressure Friday to find former CIA contractor Robert Levinson — both from lawmakers and the Levinson family — nearly seven years after he disappeared in Iran during what now has been revealed as an unofficial spy mission.

Levinson vanished after a March 2007 meeting with an admitted killer on Kish Island, an Iranian resort. For years, the U.S. publicly described him as a private citizen who traveled to the tiny Persian Gulf island on business. But an Associated Press investigation revealed that Levinson actually was a contractor working for the CIA and was paid by a team of agency analysts who were acting without authority to run spy operations to gather intelligence.

Report: ‘Interpreter’ accused of murder

JOHANNESBURG

South Africa’s government was confronted Friday with a new and chilling allegation about the bogus sign-language interpreter at Nelson Mandela’s memorial: He reportedly was accused of murder 10 years ago.

Officials said they were investigating the revelation by the national eNCA TV news station. But they were unable, or unwilling, to explain why a man who says he is schizophrenic with violent tendencies was allowed to get within arm’s length of President Barack Obama and other world leaders.

Court clears way for horse slaughter

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.

A federal appeals court has cleared the way for companies in New Mexico, Missouri and Iowa to resume domestic horse slaughter.

In an order Friday, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver removed an emergency injunction that had blocked the plants from opening.

The Humane Society of the United States and other animal-protection groups appealed after a federal judge in Albuquerque rejected their lawsuit alleging the Department of Agriculture failed to conduct proper environmental studies when it issued permits for the slaughterhouses.

Drug shows promise

SAN ANTONIO

A novel way to speed the testing of cancer drugs and quickly separate winners from duds has yielded its first big result: an experimental medicine that shows promise against a hard-to-treat form of breast cancer.

The method involves studying drugs in small groups of people and using advanced statistical techniques to analyze the results as they come in, instead of waiting for all the data to arrive.

Whether the drug, veliparib, ever makes it to market remains to be seen, but it has shown enough potential to advance to final-phase testing aimed at Food and Drug Administration approval.

2 WWII vets, 107, meet for first time

AUSTIN, Texas

At age 107, World War II veteran Elmer Hill doesn’t have many elders left. That’s why meeting a fellow veteran and Texan who’s three months his senior was a bit of a shock Friday.

Upon seeing Richard Overton for the first time, Hill suggested he might have to change his birthday. “He’s 107? Well, I better move mine up a little bit!” Hill exclaimed.

The pair, who both fought in the war’s Pacific theater, met at an Austin senior center where they shook hands warmly, had lunch and were honored by Mayor Lee Leffingwell. Some have said that Overton and Hill are the oldest and second-oldest living veterans in the U.S., but others dispute the claim, and there is no way to fully verify who is right.

Associated Press