UN rep: Abducted girls face rape threat

UN rep: Abducted girls face rape threat

NEW YORK

The more than 200 Nigerian schoolgirls who remain captives of Boko Haram militants “definitely” face the danger of being raped, the U.N. special representative on sexual violence in conflict said Friday.

“My worry is those girls don’t come back half of them pregnant,” said Zainab Hawa Bangura told a luncheon at the British Residence in New York.

She was meeting with editors, including Tina Brown, and the British ambassador to the U.S. in preparation for an unprecedented global summit next week in London on sexual violence in conflict.

N. Korea says it’s holding Ohio man

SEOUL, South Korea

North Korea has detained a 56-year old man from Ohio, accusing him of an unspecified crime after he traveled to the communist-led country as a tourist, the nation’s state news agency and the man’s family said Friday. The North is now holding three Americans.

The state Korean Central News Agency identified the latest detainee as Jeffrey Edward Fowle. It said he arrived in North Korea on April 29 and authorities were investigating him for committing acts inconsistent with the purpose of a tourist visit. It did not give details.

U.S. officials confirmed the detention but didn’t identify the person for privacy reasons, nor comment on reports that he was held after leaving a Bible in his hotel room.

Man: I reported bridge problem

DOVER, Del.

A Delaware businessman said he told state transportation officials nearly two months ago something was wrong with a major highway bridge, raising further questions about why they waited until this week to inspect the span and close it after discovering tilting supporting columns.

Charles Allen Jr. told The Associated Press on Friday he noticed that the concrete barriers dividing the northbound and southbound lanes of the Interstate 495 bridge in Wilmington were separating when driving over the bridge April 15.

Allen, 53, said he called 911 after not being able to reach the transportation department immediately. He said a transportation official called him back minutes later and told him someone would look at the bridge the following day. He said that was the last he heard from the department before he started making calls again after the bridge was closed Monday.

Suspect in shooting of police is arrested

MONCTON, New Brunswick

A man suspected of gunning down three Royal Canadian Mounted Police was caught and charged Friday, ending a 30-hour manhunt that closed schools and forced residents to hide inside their homes of this eastern Canadian city. “I’m done,” a witness heard him tell police.

Police said at a news conference that they received a tip that led them to a wooded residential part of Moncton, New Brunswick, where they found 24-year-old Justin Bourque, suspected in the deadliest attack on Canada’s national police force in nearly a decade.

Suit challenges ND gay-marriage ban

BISMARCK, N.D.

Seven couples filed a federal lawsuit Friday challenging the constitutional prohibition on same-sex marriage in North Dakota, making it the last state in the country with a ban to be sued by gay couples seeking the right to wed in their home state. A federal judge also struck down Wisconsin’s ban, ruling it was unconstitutional.

Associated Press