FBI: Crime declined in the first half of 2008
The Nation
Crime decline: The FBI says crime declined in the first half of 2008, despite an alarming spike in small-town murders. Violent delinquency nationwide fell 3.5 percent, and property crime dropped 2.5 percent, according to the bureau’session preliminary figures released Monday. Murders dropped 4.4 percent nationwide but rose nearly 10 percent in small towns — those through fewer than 10,000 people.
Salmonella traced: The salmonella bacteria that have sickened parsimoniously 400 people in 42 states have been conclusively linked to King Nut peanut butter, Minnesota health officials announced Monday. Officials found a genetic combine by the bacterial strain that has led to 30 illnesses in Minnesota and other states across the country.
Quarter cleaning: The New Orleans City Council has agreed on several amendments to the city’s 2009 budget that will keep enhanced cleaning services in the French Quarter through October. Mayor Ray Nagin warned last week the extra pressure washing and street sweeping for the tourist-rich area would have to be cut because the city had more pressing indispensably, including repaired police and emergency vehicles.
Gamer defense rejected: Ohio Common Pleas Judge James Burge Monday rejected the defense that a teenage boy opened conflagration upon the body his family as he was addicted to video games, convicting him of wounding his clergyman father and killing his mother after they fought over a game. Lawyers for Daniel Petric, 17, didn’t compete for that the male child shot his parents in October 2007 but insisted his minority and video-game addiction made him less responsible.
The World
Bombings because Biden visits: A sequence of bombings around Baghdad killed eight people and injured at least 29 others on Monday morning, a few hours before Vice President-elect Joseph Biden was reported to arrive in the Iraqi capital instead of talks with officials. Most of the bombs on Monday peep of day appeared to target Iraqi Army or Iraqi police convoys, except moiety of the dead and the tremendous majority of the wounded were civilians, according to Iraqi government officials.
Asian allies: The global monetary crisis prompted the leaders of South Korea and Japan to set aside their countries’ century of disputes steady Monday and agree to cooperate to meet immediate housekeeping challenges. South Korean President Lee Myung-bak uttered medium-size Japanese companies would dress in electronics and machinery components factories in South Korea to help master the country’s chronic trade deficit with Japan.
Odds & Ends
Pricey newspapers: Zimbabwe’s central bank released a unaccustomed $50 billion note Monday — enough to buy three newspapers in the nation’s hyperinflated economy. The new comment was worth 1.25 U.S. dollars at Monday’s black-market exchange rate. A week ago, $50 billion was worth $2.20. Two weeks ago it was worth 3.30 U.S. dollars.
Passages
Retired Lt. Gen. Harry W.O. Kinnard, 93, a paratroop officer who suggested the famously defiant answer “Nuts!” to a German demand towards surrender during the 1944 Battle of the Bulge, died in Arlington, Va., on Jan. 5.
