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3rd person dies in Ariz. sweat lodge ceremony case
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. - An Arizona homicide investigation now includes three deaths after a woman died more than a week after participating in a sweat lodge ceremony that hospitalized nearly two dozen people.
Liz Neuman of Minnesota died Saturday at a Flagstaff hospital, Yavapai County sheriff's spokesman Dwight D'Evelyn said.
The 49-year-old suffered multiple organ damage during the Oct. 8 ceremony at a resort near Sedona, a resort town 115 miles north of Phoenix that draws many in the New Age spiritual movement.
Authorities were treating all three deaths as homicides, but no charges have been filed. D'Evelyn did not provide a city of residence for Neuman, but public records showed an address in Prior Lake, about 25 miles southwest of Minneapolis.
Neuman was among more than 50 people crowded inside the sweat lodge run by self-help guru James Arthur Ray. An emergency call two hours after they entered the lodge reported two people not breathing.
Nobel jury defends Obama decision
OSLO - Members of the Norwegian committee that gave Barack Obama the Nobel Peace Prize are strongly defending their choice against a storm of criticism that the award was premature and a potential liability for the U.S. president.
Asked to comment on the uproar following Friday's announcement, four members of the five-seat panel told The Associated Press that they had expected the decision to generate both surprise and criticism.
Three of them rejected the notion that Obama hadn't accomplished anything to deserve the award, while the fourth declined to answer that question. A fifth member didn't answer calls seeking comment.
"We simply disagree that he has done nothing," committee chairman Thorbjoern Jagland told the AP on Tuesday. "He got the prize for what he has done."
Jagland singled out Obama's efforts to heal the divide between the West and the Muslim world and scale down a Bush-era proposal for an anti-missile shield in Europe.
President Barack Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize
OSLO - President Barack Obama won the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday in a stunning decision designed to build momentum behind his initiatives to reduce nuclear arms, ease tensions with the Muslim world and stress diplomacy and cooperation rather than unilateralism.
Obama said he was surprised and deeply humbled by the honor, and planned to travel to Oslo to accept the prize, which he said he does not see "as a recognition of my own accomplishments," but rather as a recognition of goals he has set for the United States and the world.
"I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many transformative figures that have been honored by this prize," Obama said.
Many observers were shocked by the unexpected choice so early in the Obama presidency, which began less than two weeks before the Feb. 1 nomination deadline and has yet to yield concrete achievements in peacemaking.
Some around the world objected to the choice of Obama, who still oversees wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and has launched deadly counter-terror strikes in Pakistan and Somalia.
Village deaths to lift Indonesian quake death toll
PADANG, Indonesia - The death toll from Indonesia's massive earthquake will likely double as officials on Saturday reached rural communities wiped out by landslides that buried more than 600 people under mountains of mud, most of them guests at a wedding celebration.
Virtually nothing remained of four villages that had dotted the hillside of the Padang Pariman district in Indonesia's West Sumatra just three days ago, said officials and an Associated Press photographer who flew over the devastated area.
Hundreds of doctors, nurses, search and rescue experts and cleanup crews arrived at the regional airport from around the globe with tons of food, tents, medicine, clean water, generators and a field hospital.
But with no electricity, fuel shortages and telecommunication outages the massive operation was chaotic.
Roughly 400 people were at a communal wedding in Pulau Aiya village when Wednesday's 7.6 magnitude quake unleashed a torrent of mud, rock and felled palm trees, said Rustam Pakaya, the head of Indonesia's Health Ministry crisis center.
Indonesia quake kills 75, thousands trapped
JAKARTA, Indonesia - A powerful earthquake rocked western Indonesia Wednesday, trapping thousands under collapsed buildings - including two hospitals - and triggering landslides. At least 75 people were killed on Sumatra island and the death toll was expected to climb sharply.
The magnitude 7.6 quake struck at 5:15 p.m. local time (1015GMT, 6:15 a.m. EDT), just off the coast of Padang city the U.S. Geological Survey said. It was along the same fault line that spawned the massive 2004 Asian tsunami that killed more than 230,000 people in a dozen countries.
A tsunami warning for countries along the Indian Ocean was issued, and panicked residents fled to higher ground fearing giant waves. The warning was lifted about an hour later.
When the quake struck, the ground was shaking so hard that people sat down on the streets to avoid falling over, footage shot in Padang and broadcast by local TVOne network showed.
Children screamed as residents tried to put out fires started in the quake. Thousands fled the coast in cars and motorbikes, honking horns.
140 die in Philippine storm, toll expected to rise
MANILA, Philippines - Rescuers pulled more bodies from swollen rivers Monday as residents started to dig out their homes from under carpets of mud after flooding left 140 people dead in the Philippine capital and surrounding towns.
Overwhelmed officials called for international help, warning they may not have sufficient resources to withstand another storm that forecasters said was brewing east of the island nation and could hit as early as Friday.
Authorities expected the death toll from Tropical Storm Ketsana, which scythed across the northern Philippines on Saturday, to rise as rescuers penetrate villages blocked off by floating cars and other debris. The storm dumped more than a month's worth of rain in just 12 hours, fueling the worst flooding to hit the country in more than 40 years. At least 140 people died, and 32 are missing.
Troops, police and volunteers have already rescued more than 7,900 people, but unconfirmed reports of more deaths abound, Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro said.
US, UK, French heads demand Iran nuke site opened
PITTSBURGH - President Barack Obama and the leaders of France and Britain declared Friday that the revelation of a previously secret Iranian nuclear facility puts heavy new pressure on Tehran to quickly disclose all its nuclear efforts - including any moves toward weapons development - "or be held accountable."
A defiant Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad retorted that his nation was keeping nothing from international inspectors and needn't "inform Mr. Obama's administration of every facility that we have."
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Iran has until December to comply or face new sanctions. Before that, on Oct. 1, the Iranians are to meet with the U.S. and five other major powers to discuss a range of issues including Iran's nuclear program.
"We will not let this matter rest," said British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who accused Iran of "serial deception."
Said Obama: "The Iranian government must now demonstrate through deeds its peaceful intentions or be held accountable to international standards and international law."
New UN resolution aims at nuclear-free world
UNITED NATIONS - With President Barack Obama presiding over a historic session, the U.N. Security Council unanimously approved a U.S.-sponsored resolution Thursday committing all nations to work for a nuclear weapons-free world.
Russia, China and developing nations supported the measure, giving it global clout and strong political backing.
The resolution calls for stepped up efforts to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, promote disarmament and "reduce the risk of nuclear terrorism." It calls for better security for nuclear weapons materials and underscores the Security Council's intention to take action if such material or nuclear weapons get into the hands of terrorists.
The resolution consolidated many elements previously endorsed individually in the Security Council or other international forums. But bringing them together in a single document, voted on by global leaders, should add political momentum to efforts to achieve these goals, particularly at important conferences next year on nuclear security and on strengthening the Nonproliferation Treaty.
Honduran security breaks up pro-Manuel Zelaya demos
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras - Honduras' airports and borders were closed Tuesday, while baton-wielding police fired tear gas to chase thousands of demonstrators away from the embassy where their deposed president is holed up to avoid arrest.
Some gas canisters were also hurled over the walls of the Brazilian embassy, where President Manuel Zelaya, his wife, some of their children, Cabinet members and journalists kept a tense watch on police and soldiers who patrolled neighboring rooftops.
Manuel Zelaya told The Associated Press he has no plans to leave the haven at the embassy where he arrived Monday, but the leftist leader said he would like to speak with interim president Roberto Micheletti, who took power after the June 28 coup.
Those negotiations have yet to begin, and with his embassy the current hotspot for the Honduran crisis, Brazil's president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva called Manuel Zelaya and pressed him not to do anything that might provoke officials to invade the diplomatic mission.
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, in New York, said that by allowing Manuel Zelaya into its embassy, Brazil only did what any democratic country would do.
2 Colorado men, 1 NYC man arrested in terror probe
DENVER - The FBI arrested a 24-year-old Colorado man on charges of making false statements to federal agents in an ongoing terror investigation, and supporting documents contend the man admitted receiving weapons and explosives training from al-Qaida in Pakistan.
Najibullah Zazi of the Denver suburb of Aurora was arrested late Saturday after undergoing three days of questioning by the FBI. Najibullah Zazi, a legal permanent resident from Afghanistan, was due to appear in federal court on Monday.
Also arrested were Najibullah Zazi's father, Mohammed Wali Zazi, 53, in Denver; and an associate, Ahmad Wais Afzali, 37, of Queens, N.Y., the Justice Department said Sunday. Both also were charged with making false statements to federal agents, a charge that carries a penalty of eight years in prison. Court appearances for both also were set for Monday.
Najibullah Zazi has repeatedly denied to reporters any connection to al-Qaida or to a purported terrorist plot. A senior U.S. intelligence official in Washington told The Associated Press Friday that Najibullah Zazi has indicated that he is directly linked with al-Qaida. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss intelligence matters, said Najibullah Zazi played a crucial role in an intended terrorist attack but that it was not immediately clear what the targets were.