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Washington – The Smithsonian Institution announced Monday that its top official, Secretary Lawrence Small, has resigned amid criticism about his expenses.

Small resigned over the weekend, and the decision was unanimously accepted Sunday by the Smithsonian’s Board of Regents.

Cristián Samper, director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, has been appointed acting secretary while the regents conduct a nationwide search for a permanent replacement.

An internal audit in January found that Small had made $90,000 in unauthorized expenses, including private jet travel and expensive gifts. The audit also found that Small had charged the Smithsonian more than $1.1 million for use of his home since 2000. The housing expenses included $273,000 for housekeeping, $2,535 to clean a chandelier and $12,000 for service on his backyard swimming pool.

On Thursday, the Senate approved freezing a proposed $17 million increase in funding for the Smithsonian, citing Small’s excessive compensation and spending.

“I think (Small) was really concerned about the possibility of the institution being changed fundamentally” in regard to the Senate’s vote to withhold money, said Roger Sant, chairman of the Smithsonian board’s executive committee.

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More nation & world briefs

FRANKFORT, Ky.

State requires smokes that snuff themselves

Traditional cigarettes essentially will be banned from this tobacco-producing state under a new law limiting sales to so- called fire-safe versions.

Kentucky is joining seven other states – California, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, New Hampshire, Utah and Vermont- that require the special smokes in an effort to prevent fires ignited by cigarettes, according to the National Fire Protection Association.

The law requires cigarettes that are wrapped in thin bands of slow-burning paper and go out when the burning tobacco is no longer being puffed.

About a third of fire deaths in Kentucky are caused by blazes sparked by cigarettes or other smoking materials, according to the state fire marshal’s office.

SAN DIEGO

Inspector sentenced for aiding smugglers

An American border inspector was sentenced Monday to nearly six years in prison for taking cash and cars from smugglers and allowing them to shuttle illegal immigrants from Mexico into the United States.

Richard Elizalda, a 10-year veteran of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, worked at the world’s busiest border crossing, the San Ysidro Port of Entry between Tijuana, Mexico, and San Diego.

Investigators said he sent text messages directing smugglers to his inspection lane, then waved their vehicles through.

In return, he received as much as $1,000 for each immigrant, totaling $120,000 in cash starting in 2004.

UNITED NATIONS

Mediator: Kosovo must be independent

The U.N. mediator for Kosovo said Monday that independence was the “only viable option” for the ethnic Albanian province in Serbia, a recommendation that might set up a Security Council deadlock between Serbia’s ally Russia and the West.

U.N. envoy Martti Ahtisaari, who tried for a year to broker an agreement between ethnic Albanians and Serbs, reported to the Security Council that talks had proved fruitless and that continued uncertainty about Kosovo’s status would be destabilizing for the province and the region. For eight years, since its devastating civil war, it has been governed by the United Nations, and neither full Serbian control nor autonomy within Serbia would be tenable, the report said.

JERUSALEM

Crocs around waist don’t pass border

A woman with three crocodiles strapped to her waist was stopped at the Gaza-Egypt border crossing after guards noticed that she looked “strangely fat,” officials said Monday.

A body search by a female border guard turned up the animals, each about 20 inches long, underneath her loose robe.