New diet guidelines

New diet guidelines

WASHINGTON

For years, the government has been issuing guidelines about healthy eating choices. Now, a panel that advises the Agriculture Department is ready to recommend that you be told not only what foods are better for your own health, but for the environment as well.

That means that when the latest version of the government’s dietary guidelines comes out, it may push even harder than it has in recent years for people to choose more fruits, vegetables, nuts, whole grains and other plant-based foods — at the expense of meat.

The beef and agriculture industries are crying foul, saying an environmental agenda has no place in what has always been a practical blueprint for a healthy lifestyle.

2 bodies found in truck after shootout with police officers

CHARLESTON, W.Va.

A father and son killed a North Carolina couple and set their home on fire, and then drove to West Virginia, where they wounded two police officers in a New Year’s Day shootout during a traffic stop, authorities said Friday.

Investigators began piecing together the crime when two Lewisburg, W.Va., officers pulled over an SUV on Thursday on a highway outside the city, according to State Police. The SUV had a North Carolina license plate showing it had been stolen.

During the stop, a truck pulled over nearby, and its driver shot at the officers with a handgun, wounding both, State Police Lt. Michael Baylous said. One officer returned fire, wounding the suspect in the leg.

Baylous said the SUV driver fled and hid but later turned himself in. The truck driver also fled and eventually was taken into custody.

Investigators then discovered two bodies under a mattress in the truck’s bed.

Mourners to pay respects to officer

NEW YORK

Mourners of a New York Police Department officer killed with his partner in an ambush shooting plan to gather at a funeral home today for his wake.

Officer Wenjian Liu will be remembered at the Aievoli Funeral Home in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn. His funeral is scheduled for Sunday with a Chinese ceremony led by Buddhist monks to be followed by a traditional police ceremony with eulogies led by a chaplain. Burial will follow at Cypress Hills Cemetery.

Liu was killed Dec. 20 along with his partner, Officer Rafael Ramos, as they sat in their patrol car on a Brooklyn street. Their shooter, Ismaaiyl Brinsley, had made references online to the killings of unarmed black men at the hands of white police officers and had vowed to put “wings on pigs.”

US, Iran reach tentative deal

VIENNA

Iran and the United States have tentatively agreed on a formula that Washington hopes will reduce Tehran’s ability to make nuclear arms by committing it to ship to Russia much of the material needed for such weapons, diplomats say.

In another sign of progress, the two diplomats told The Associated Press that negotiators at the December round of nuclear talks drew up for the first time a catalog outlining areas of potential accord and differing approaches to remaining disputes.

The diplomats said differences still dominate ahead of the next round of Iran-six power talks Jan. 15 in Geneva.

Associated Press