A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Republicans blamed over sex scandal
WASHINGTON -A US House of Representatives ethics panel has concluded that Republicans failed to adequately respond to early warnings about a lawmaker blamed for the internet sex scandal that shook Congress this year.
A source said the bipartisan panel found that no one violated specific ethics rules but were negligent in protecting young interns in the matter.
Republican congressman Mark Foley of Florida, a six-term lawmaker, resigned from the House on September 29th after it was disclosed he had sent sexually explicit electronic messages to former teenage male interns.
The revelation triggered charges that Republicans had tried to cover up the matter and likely helped Democrats win control of an already scandal-rocked Congress in the November elections. - (Reuters)
Two US pilots charged on crash
SAO PAULO -Brazilian police have charged two US pilots with endangering air safety in the crash on September 29th of a Brazilian airliner over the Amazon rain forest, in which all 154 people on board were killed.
Joseph Lepore (42) and Jan Paladino (34), both of New York state, were at the controls of a small executive jet that clipped wings with a Boeing 737 operated by Brazilian airline Gol Linhas Aéreas Inteligentes as they flew between Brasilia and Manaus. The executive jet landed safely but the Boeing plunged to the ground. - (Reuters)
Homes 'dangerous' after tornado
LONDON -Scores of families caught up in the London tornado last night faced a bleak run-up to Christmas as structural experts told them it was too dangerous to go home.
As many as 100 people were prevented from returning home permanently but were escorted to their properties to pick up vital belongings. - (PA)
Neocon pioneer Kirkpatrick dies
WASHINGTON -Jeane Kirkpatrick, a key player in former president Ronald Reagan's conservative foreign policy as US ambassador to the United Nations, has died, the American Enterprise Institute, where she was a senior fellow, said yesterday. She was 80.
Kirkpatrick was a pioneer of the neoconservative movement that advocated an interventionist foreign policy, which has strongly influenced policymaking under US president Bush. - (Reuters)
Actor Snipes on tax fraud charges
FLORIDA -Actor Wesley Snipes has surrendered to authorities in Florida to face federal tax fraud charges and was released on a $1 million (€757,000) bond yesterday, two months after he was indicted in Orlando.
The actor in the Bladetrilogy, Major Leagueand Jungle Feverwas charged in October with fraudulently claiming refunds totalling nearly $12 million (€9.1 million) in 1996 and 1997 on income taxes already paid. He was also charged with failure to file returns from 1999 through 2004. - (AP)
Accused Serb ends hunger strike
AMSTERDAM -Serbian war crimes suspect Vojislav Seselj has ended his hunger strike in detention at the UN tribunal in The Hague after the court's appeals chamber yesterday restored his right to represent himself, the court said.
The Serb ultranationalist leader is charged with the murder and persecution of non-Serbs during wars with Croats and Bosnian Muslims in the 1990s. He launched a hunger strike to press demands including the right to defend himself and remove defence lawyers imposed by the court after his behaviour was deemed obstructive. - (Reuters)