Obama declares H1N1 swine flu a national emergency

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Northwest pilot whose plane missed airport by 150 miles says no one in cockpit was asleep

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The first officer of the Northwest Airlines jet that missed its destination by 150 miles says he and the captain were not sleeping or arguing in the cockpit but he wouldn’t explain their lapse in response and the detour.

“It was not a serious event, from a safety issue,” pilot Richard Cole said late Friday in front of his Salem, Ore., home. “I would tell you more, but I’ve already told you way too much.”

Air traffic controllers and pilots had tried for more than an hour Wednesday night to contact the Minneapolis-bound flight. Officials on the ground alerted National Guard jets to prepare to chase the airliner, though none of the military planes left the runway.

The jet with 144 passengers aboard was being closely monitored by senior White House officials, White House spokesman Nick Shapiro told The Associated Press on Saturday. He didn’t say if President Barack Obama was informed.

Many aviation safety experts and pilots say the most likely explanation is that the pilots fell asleep along their route from San Diego. NTSB spokesman Keith Holloway said fatigue and cockpit distraction are factors that will be looked into.

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Prosecutor: Church janitor killed NJ priest in rectory following argument

MORRISTOWN, N.J. (AP) — A janitor has been charged with murder in the slaying of priest whose body was found in the rectory of his northern New Jersey church.

Morris County Prosecutor Robert Bianchi said Saturday that Jose Feliciano stabbed the Rev. Ed Hinds 32 times on Thursday after the pair argued.

Hinds was in his clerical robes when he was killed while brewing a cup of coffee in the rectory kitchen of St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church in Chatham.

His body was found about Friday morning after he failed to appear for Mass.

The slaying rocked the New York City bedroom community of about 10,000 residents, where Hinds was familiar face and much-beloved presence. It was the first violent death in Chatham since a 1990 manslaughter case.

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Officials: Army captures Pakistani Taliban leader’s hometown, suspected US missile kills 22

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Soldiers captured the strategically located hometown of Pakistan’s Taliban chief Saturday after fierce fighting, officials said, the army’s first major prize as it pushes deeper into a militant stronghold along the Afghan border.

A suspected U.S. missile killed 22 people elsewhere in the northwest, but apparently missed a top Taliban figure, authorities said.

Pakistan’s eight-day-old offensive in the Taliban and al-Qaida stronghold of South Waziristan is considered its most critical test yet in the campaign to stop the spread of violent Islamist extremism in this nuclear-armed, U.S.-allied country. The army operation has prompted a wave of retaliatory attacks by militants this month that have killed some 200 people.

The battle for Kotkai town took several days and involved aerial bombardment as soldiers captured heights around the town. Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said troops were now ridding the town of land mines and roadside bombs planted by the insurgents.

Kotkai is symbolically important because it is the hometown of Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud and one of his top deputies, Qari Hussain. It also lies along the way to the major militant base of Sararogha, making it a strategically helpful catch.

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Lawmakers worry about patients — and try to be patient — in push for health care bill

WASHINGTON (AP) — In Congress these days, the health care debate is as much about patience as patients.

In a closed-door meeting of feisty House Democrats this past week, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., served notice that in these final days before the Senate and House present comprehensive bills to overhaul the nation’s system, hers is running short.

Rep. Earl Pomeroy, D-N.D., had interrupted Pelosi’s presentation about one version of the bill with questions about its cost. According to Pomeroy and others, she cut him off — twice — with a question of her own:

Is there any version you could support?

Yes, Pomeroy said, but not the one most likely to succeed.

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UN nuclear inspectors head to Iran to visit recently revealed nuclear facility

VIENNA (AP) — A team of U.N. inspectors went to Iran on Saturday to visit a recently revealed nuclear site, amid new efforts to curb Iran’s nuclear program.

The International Atomic Energy Agency experts are slated to examine an unfinished uranium enrichment facility near the holy city of Qom to verify it is for peaceful purposes. Disclosure of its existence last month raised international suspicion over the extent and aim of the country’s nuclear program.

Iran insists its nuclear program serves to generate power and denies allegations it is trying to make nuclear weapons. Tehran asked for more time Friday to consider a U.N.-backed plan to ship much of its uranium to Russia for enrichment.

The U.S., Russia and France endorsed the deal Friday, but Iran’s representative to the IAEA, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, said Tehran wants until next week to respond

President Barack Obama called French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Saturday to discuss Iran. “The two chiefs of state stated their perfect convergence of views on the Iranian nuclear issue,” according to a statement from Sarkozy’s office. It would not comment further on what they discussed or the timing for an eventual new international meeting on Iran.

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Shiloh Pepin, girl born with rare condition called ‘mermaid syndrome,’ dies in Maine at age 10

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Shiloh Pepin, a girl who was born with fused legs, a rare condition often called “mermaid syndrome,” and gained a wide following on the Internet and national television, has died. She was 10.

Doctors had predicted she would only survive only for days after her birth at the most, but the girl, described by her mother as “a tough little thing,” died at Maine Medical Center on Friday afternoon, hospital spokesman John Lamb said. She had been hospitalized in critical condition for nearly a week.

Being born with “mermaid syndrome,” also known as sirenomelia, meant that the Kennebunkport girl had only one partially working kidney, no lower colon or genital organs and legs fused from the waist down.

Some children who have survived sirenomelia have had surgery to separate their legs, but Shiloh did not because blood vessels crossing from side to side in her circulatory system would have been severed. She had received two kidney transplants, the last one in 2007.

Her story was featured recently on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” and other national television programs.

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AP interview: Comedian Bill Cosby to keep it clean for humor prize that he’s twice declined

WASHINGTON (AP) — Bill Cosby still thinks America is funny — like the name-calling over health care and the way we drink so much water from plastic bottles that could be toxic — even though he says the nation has some serious problems it needs to tackle.

The 72-year-old who has long drawn laughs for his wisecracks and deadpan observations will receive the nation’s foremost humor prize Monday at the Kennedy Center in Washington. Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock, Sinbad and other top entertainers will line up to honor him with the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.

It’s a prize Cosby has turned down twice before because he said he was disgusted with profanity and N-words thrown around by performers honoring Richard Pryor, who was the first recipient in 1998.

“I told them flat out no because I will not be used, nor will Mark Twain be used, in that way,” he told The Associated Press from his home in New York.

The profanity bugs Cosby. He always kept it clean with the family laughs on “The Cosby Show,” portraying a middle-class black family and everyday life, from 1984 to 1992. And he’s not impressed with today’s comedians who can’t help but curse.

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Lebanese break Israeli record with huge Hummus plate in bid to reaffirm ownership over dip

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanese chefs prepared a massive plate of hummus weighing over two tons Saturday that broke a world record organizers said was previously held by Israel — a bid to reaffirm proprietorship over the popular Middle Eastern dip.

“Come and fight for your bite, you know you’re right!” was the slogan for the event — part of a simmering war over regional cuisine between Lebanon and Israel, which have had tense political relations for decades.

Lebanese businessmen accuse Israel of stealing a host of traditional Middle Eastern dishes, particularly hummus, and marketing them worldwide as Israeli.

“Lebanon is trying to win a battle against Israel by registering this new Guinness World Record and telling the whole world that hummus is a Lebanese product, its part of our traditions,” said Fady Jreissati, vice president of operations at International Fairs and Promotions group, the event’s organizer.

Hummus — made from mashed chickpeas, sesame paste, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and garlic — has been eaten in the Middle East for centuries. Its exact origin is unknown, though it’s generally seen as an Arab dish.

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Amid probe of concrete companies, cracks in ramps at new $1.5B Yankee Stadium draw scrutiny

NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Yankees might look rock solid, but the concrete at their new stadium is drawing extra scrutiny amid a probe of construction companies.

Concrete ramps at the $1.5 billion ballpark have been troubled by cracks this summer.

The New York Times reports that the team is trying to determine whether there was something wrong with the cement, or the installation and design of the ramps. The Yankees host the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday night in Game 6 of the American League championship series.

The inquiry comes after the owners of a company involved in designing the concrete mix were indicted on charges that they either faked or failed to perform some required tests.

A team spokeswoman says the cracks are a cosmetic issue and the ramps are safe.

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.