North Korea detains American tourist

North Korea detains American tourist

PYONGYANG, North Korea

North Korea has detained a 24-year-old American man for improper behavior while he was being processed to enter the country as a tourist, state media reported today.

The official Korean Central News Agency identified the man as Miller Matthew Todd — possibly putting his surname first — and said he entered the country April 10 with a tourist visa but tore it up and shouted that he wanted to seek asylum. The brief report said he chose the North “as a shelter.”

It said he was detained for “gross violation” of North Korea’s legal order and was being investigated. It gave no further details.

Bombers kill 31 at Iraq campaign rally

BAGHDAD

Suicide bombers killed 31 people Friday at a sports stadium hosting a campaign rally for thousands of supporters of a militant Shiite group before parliamentary elections, authorities said — an attack that could unleash more sectarian violence.

An al-Qaida breakaway group, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, claimed responsibility for the attack at the Industrial Stadium in eastern Baghdad, which drew about 10,000 backers of the Iranian-backed Asaib Ahl al-Haq group.

It said on a militant website that the bombings were to avenge what it called the killing of Sunnis and their forced removal from their homes by Shiite militias.

Accused shoe thrower arraigned

LAS VEGAS

A Phoenix woman accused of throwing a shoe at Hillary Rodham Clinton during a speech in Las Vegas remains in federal custody after pleading not guilty to two criminal charges.

Alison Ernst, 36, entered the pleas to misdemeanor counts of trespassing and violence against a person during her arraignment in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Cam Ferenbach then granted the government’s request to keep Ernst in federal custody, saying she was a flight risk and danger to the community. She is being held at a jail operated by a federal contractor in Pahrump, 63 miles west of Las Vegas.

Diggers to unearth Atari ‘E.T.’ games

Hidden for three decades in a landfill deep in the New Mexico desert lie thousands of Atari cartridges from what is widely believed to be worst video game ever made — or so the urban legend goes.

A group of filmmakers hopes to get to the bottom of the mystery today by digging up the concrete-covered landfill in search of up to a million discarded copies of “E.T. The Extraterrestrial” that the game’s maker wanted to hide forever. The game and its contribution to the demise of Atari have been the source of fascination for video-game enthusiasts for 30 years, and the search for the cartridges will be featured in an upcoming documentary about the biggest video-game company of the early ’80s.

Arrest warrant issued for Ohio ex-deputy treasurer

COLUMBUS

Prosecutors on Friday issued an arrest warrant for a former Ohio deputy treasurer who pleaded guilty in December to federal charges in a kickback scheme, after receiving information he violated terms of his release.

Amer Ahmad, 39, faces up to 15 years in prison for bribery and conspiracy.

A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Columbus said that U.S. marshals were searching for Ahmad. He was released on bail until he could be sentenced but surrendered his passport.

Associated Press