Attorney to seek wrong-way driver’s exhumation

The attorney for a man whose wife’s wrong-way accident killed eight people on New York’s Taconic Parkway in July says he will ask authorities to exhume her body in order to prove she wasn’t drinking at the time of the accident. Dominic Barbera, attorney for Daniel Schuler, told CNN’s “Larry King Live” he believes Diane Schuler may have suffered stroke-like symptoms and that a fire after the accident could have turned blood sugar into alcohol

Share

European envoys visit jailed Cuban’s family

European diplomats visited the family of a jailed Cuban dissident Thursday over concern the government has arrested him on criminal charges in a bid to block his political activities. Representatives from Sweden, the current president of the European Union, as well as diplomats from the United Kingdom, Germany, Hungary, and Poland, drove to the Havana home of Darsi Ferrer and talked to his wife. Ferrer has been an outspoken critic of the Cuban government and has even organized small marches to demand improved human rights in Cuba, an unusually bold move

Share

Nigeria agency pushes marriage to control HIV spread

The young man’s call echoed throughout the remote village in northern Nigeria — the marriage ceremony was about to begin. Under the dusty sun, the fathers of the bride and groom agreed to the marriage and this ancient Muslim tradition proceeded as it has for hundreds of years. But unknown to the gathered villagers, the couple is hiding a modern secret.

Share

Man, 92, wins $1.9 million tobacco judgment in wife’s death

A Florida jury awarded a 92-year-old man $1.9 million in compensatory damages for the death of his wife, a former two-pack-a-day Marlboro smoker who started when she was 16 and died in her 70s, attorneys said Thursday. The jury of five women and one man deliberated for slightly more than a day before deciding on the amount, attorneys for both sides said.

Share

Philippine’s Aquino remembered as democracy icon at funeral

Former Philippine President Corazon Aquino was remembered as an icon of democracy at a solemn funeral mass on Wednesday, the country’s official news agency reported. Aquino, the former housewife propelled to the head of a “People Power” movement that pushed out longtime strongman Ferdinand Marcos after her husband’s assassination, died on August 1 at the age of 76. Current President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo led the mass after returning from a trip to the United States, the Philippines News Agency reported.

Share

Recruits reveal al Qaeda’s sprawling web

When Bryant Neal Vinas spoke at length with Belgian prosecutors last March, he provided a fascinating and sometimes frightening insight into al Qaeda’s training — and its agenda. Vinas is a young American who was arrested in Pakistan late in 2008 after allegedly training with al Qaeda in the Afghan/Pakistan border area. He was repatriated to the United States and in January pled guilty to charges of conspiracy to murder U.S.

Share