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World in brief
Compiled from Times wires Cocaine in fake leg costs man 10 yearsLONDON -- A Jamaican man who tried to smuggle $103,000 in cocaine into Britain in his artificial leg has been jailed for 10 years, customs officers said on Saturday. Yenline Neil, 59, was caught by Customs and Excise at London's Gatwick Airport earlier this year, after a sniffer dog began barking at him. Neil, of Spanish Town, Jamaica, was sentenced Friday after a jury found him guilty of attempted drug smuggling. Prosecutors told the court ground staff were helping Neil through arrivals on an electric cart when the drug dog began barking. Officers X-rayed the false limb and found 29 ounces of cocaine hidden below the knee joint in the artificial limb. Neil, who denied the charge, told the court he did not know he was carrying the drug. He said he had taken the artificial limb for repairs shortly before his trip. The jury took just 15 minutes to reach an unanimous verdict. Nations pledge peaceful end to N. Korea crisisTOKYO -- The United States, Japan and South Korea called on North Korea on Saturday to dismantle its nuclear weapons development program in a "prompt and verifiable manner." At a meeting here, the three allies also pledged to seek a peaceful resolution of the crisis caused by North Korea's recent admission that it had been secretly developing nuclear weapons, in violation of a number of international agreements. "North Korea can benefit from greater participation as a member of the international community, but that participation rests on North Korea's prompt and verifiable dismantling of its nuclear weapons programs," said a joint statement issued after the meeting. However, diplomats here said the discussions, which were held at the assistant foreign minister level, had failed to achieve a consensus on whether to punish North Korea for having broken its commitments or how to do it. Pope names new leader of Swiss GuardsVATICAN CITY -- Pope John Paul II named a new commander of the Swiss Guards, elevating Lt. Elmar Theodor Mader to the top rank of the 100-member army that protects the pontiff. Mader, currently vice commander of the Swiss Guards, replaces Col. Pius Segmueller, who left his post in September to return to Switzerland, the Vatican announced Saturday. Segmueller took command of the Swiss Guards on Aug. 1, 1998, three months after the corps' previous commander, Alois Estermann, was found shot to death in his Vatican apartment. The Vatican says guardsman Cedric Tornay killed Estermann and Estermann's wife, then killed himself. Tornay's family has contested the Vatican's version, claiming Tornay was the victim of an unexplained plot. Mader, 39, is a native of Henau, Switzerland, and is married with three children, the Vatican said. Contaminated water kills 1, sickens 1,000QUITO, Ecuador -- One child has died and more than 1,000 people have fallen ill in an Ecuadorean city after drinking water was contaminated by cow manure from farm runoff. Nearly 1,200 people in the city of Ibarra, 50 miles north of Quito, have been treated for diarrhea, vomiting and dehydration, Ibarra hospital director Jose Albuja said Saturday. The medical emergency began Thursday when more than 500 people were hospitalized and two-year-old Joselyn Patino died from a severe bacterial infection. Hospital official Patricio Nieto said E. coli bacteria was responsible for the sickness. The water was contaminated when water tainted with cow manure penetrated a broken drinking water pipeline, said Luis Enriquez, director of the state water utility. Officials have shut down the water supply to clean it.
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From the Times wire desk
From the AP |
