Fla. skydiver dies of injuries after collision with plane
DeLand, Fla. – A skydiving cinematographer was killed after his legs were severed in a midair collision with the airplane he had jumped from, authorities said.
Albert Wing had already deployed his parachute Saturday when he struck the left wing of the DHC-6 Twin Otter propeller plane at about 600 feet, a witness on the ground told police.
Both of Wing’s legs were severed at the knees, but he managed to maneuver his parachute and land near the DeLand Airport, about 40 miles north of Orlando, DeLand police Cmdr. Randel Henderson said.
He was airlifted to a hospital, where he later died, Henderson said.
Fourteen other skydivers were in the air at the time of the accident, Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Holly Baker said. The plane landed safely.
The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board were investigating.
DALLAS
Cheney, Saudi talk before Bush meeting
Vice President Dick Cheney met Sunday with Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah ahead of talks today at President Bush’s ranch, where oil prices, terrorism and democratic reforms in the Middle East will top the agenda.
Cheney and Abdullah met at a hotel where Abdullah was spending part of his five-day stay in the United States. The White House refused to provide details about the meeting.
Cheney also met with the son of a former Lebanese prime minister, Rafik Hariri, who was assassinated on Feb. 14. Hariri’s killing led to massive anti-Syrian protests and international pressure that forced Syria to begin withdrawing its army from Lebanon.
MINNEAPOLIS
Republican ex-senator declines to run in ’06
Citing the potential for a divisive campaign ahead, conservative former U.S. Sen. Rod Grams said Sunday that he is ending his bid to return to the Senate in 2006.
Grams said that while he believed he could still win the Republican nomination for the seat he lost to Democratic Sen. Mark Dayton in 2000, he knew it would be a tough battle within the party. Dayton already has said he will not seek re-election.
Grams said he’ll support the party’s nominee, which likely will be U.S. Rep. Mark Kennedy, who announced this month he had raised $550,000 over a six-week period.
Grams hadn’t started raising funds but said that wasn’t a factor in his decision.
BOSTON
Priest to stop protests at senator’s home
The Archdiocese of Boston has ordered a priest to stop demonstrations outside the home of the state Senate president, protests the priest said were necessary because of the politician’s support of embryonic stem-cell research.
The Rev. Thomas DiLorenzo and several parishioners recently spent several days demonstrating outside Sen. Robert E. Travaglini’s duplex, singing hymns, carrying rosary beads and displaying signs with slogans such as “Stop Playing God” and “This is all about money.”
DiLorenzo said he was told to stay away after he wrote Travaglini a letter that mentioned one of the Democratic senator’s children. The priest said he did not consider his letter threatening, but church officials told him the senator’s wife took the letter to police.
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan
Embassy official reported freed in Iraq
A Pakistan embassy official who was kidnapped in Iraq two weeks ago was freed Sunday, the chief Pakistani government spokesman said.
Malik Mohammed Javed was abducted April 9 after he left his residence in Baghdad to attend prayers at a mosque. The Pakistani government said after his abduction that he was in the custody of a previously unknown Islamic militant group that had demanded a ransom for Javed’s release.
Pakistan is a key ally of the United States in its war on terror in Afghanistan, but it opposed the U.S.-led attacks in Iraq and refused to send troops.
BRASILIA, Brazil
Ousted Ecuador leader starts exile in Brazil
Ecuador’s former president began his life in exile in Brazil on Sunday, ending a four-day drama that began when protesters accusing him of abuse of power drove him from office and forced him to take refuge in the Brazilian ambassador’s residence.
A police vehicle whisked Lucio Gutierrez out of the Quito residence through its back entrance before dawn Sunday to avoid protesters, and he arrived in Brazil’s capital seven hours later on a jet, Brazilian military spokesman Vladomiro Fagundes said.
Gutierrez’s wife and one of his two daughters accompanied him to Brazil, which granted asylum to the 48-year-old army colonel.
CAIRO
Mubarak launches bid in competitive vote
President Hosni Mubarak appeared to kick off a re-election bid Sunday with a televised interview offering Egyptians a rare personal look at the private leader ahead of the country’s first multicandidate presidential elections.
Mubarak, Egypt’s president since succeeding Anwar Sadat following his 1981 assassination, surprised the country Feb. 26 by ordering a constitutional amendment to allow polls open to more than one candidate for president.
The 77-year-old leader, who has been president for 24 years, focused on his military experiences in the first of three interviews. He is expected to announce during the third interview that he intends to run for another six-year term this year.
Until now, Mubarak has been reinstated president four times through presidential referendums, in which people voted “yes” or “no” for a single candidate approved by parliament.
