SEDONA, Ariz.
4,200-acre wildfire still threatens homes
A 4,200-acre wildfire that threatened hundreds of homes was 35 percent contained early Sunday, fire officials said.
Though an evacuation order was lifted for part of Oak Creek Canyon on Saturday, the blaze still threatens homes in the canyon’s southern end.
Authorities said it would be about two days before the remaining evacuees could return home. Officials hope to have full containment by Wednesday.
TUCSON
Empty casket with U.S. Army seal found
An empty casket with a U.S. Army seal was found in the desert near Tucson, and sheriff’s deputies were looking for the body.
“There was … evidence that it had been inhabited recently,” Deputy Dawn Barkman said.
Forensic investigators took DNA samples, and a nationwide alert was issued in hopes of finding out who had been in the casket, Barkman said Sunday.
WASHINGTON
Complaints of force by police examined
Eight percent of citizen complaints that police officers used too much force turned up enough evidence to justify discipline of an officer, a Justice Department survey of state and local forces reported Sunday.
The survey by the department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics found that 26,556 complaints of excessive police force were filed in 2002 with state and local law enforcement agencies that have at least 100 full-time officers.
The data was collected in 2003, the first time the government asked about the outcome of such citizen complaints.
NEW YORK
Moscow wins title of costliest city Moscow has eclipsed Tokyo as the world’s most expensive city, a new survey says.
The Russian capital moved up, thanks to a property boom, according to a survey released today, while Japan’s capital slipped to third place due to the weaker yen. South Korea’s Seoul ranked second, up from fifth.
The survey by Mercer Human Resource Consulting ranked 144 cities, measuring the comparative cost of items such as housing, transportation and food.
New York – at No. 10, up from 13 – remains North America’s costliest city, followed by Los Angeles and San Francisco.
The least expensive city was Asunción, Paraguay.
DILI, East Timor Official’s resignation may sink government East Timor’s Nobel Prize-winning foreign minister resigned in protest Sunday after the country’s ruling party ignored demands to fire the prime minister over accusations he provoked bloody unrest.
Jose Ramos-Horta’s departure threatened to unravel the government.
Many East Timorese say Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri’s decision to dismiss 600 disgruntled soldiers in March was to blame for street battles and gang warfare. He also faces allegations of forming a hit squad to silence opponents.
