Miami – Former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega is a step closer to facing money-laundering charges in France after a federal judge approved his extradition Tuesday, less than two weeks before the end of his U.S. prison sentence for drug racketeering.
Attorneys for the 73-year-old Noriega vowed to continue fighting for his return home to Panama, but they have now lost before two judges. Noriega is scheduled to be released Sept. 9 from a federal prison outside Miami where he has been held since his 1992 conviction.
Noriega was captured after a 1989 U.S. military invasion of Panama. France wants Noriega to face charges of laundering more than $3 million in drug proceeds through French banks, with some of the money used to buy luxury apartments in Paris. Noriega faces another 10 years in prison if convicted.
Additional nation/world news briefs:
WASHINGTON
Va. Tech gunman wrote massacre story
Seung-Hui Cho wrote a paper for a Virginia Tech English class about a gunman planning a mass school shooting one year before he killed 32 students and faculty members and himself in the deadliest shooting by an individual in U.S. history, according to sources familiar with the paper, the Washington Post reported.
The paper for a class in fiction writing has “eerie” parallels to Cho’s shooting inside Norris Hall on April 16, several sources said.
Several of the agencies probing the shootings had not been made aware of the paper at all, and the investigative panel appointed by Democratic Gov. Timothy Kaine did not receive a copy until recent days. The university has issued its findings, and the panel is scheduled to release its review Thursday.
WASHINGTON
Dems vow to press ahead with AG probe
The resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales does not mean an end to several investigations into his actions and truthfulness during his tenure at the Justice Department, with congressional Democrats vowing Tuesday to press ahead with their inquiries.
Gonzales is a focus of investigations by the House and Senate Judiciary Committees, centered on his role in the firing of several U.S. attorneys last year for what appear to have been political reasons. Other inquiries are being conducted by the Justice Department’s inspector-general.
The White House said it would move quickly to find a replacement for Gonzales, but a spokesman would not confirm the names of candidates under consideration.
Although Senate Democrats say they will not delay unnecessarily consideration of the nominee to replace Gonzales, they can press for White House cooperation in the other investigations before moving to confirm a new attorney general.
NEW YORK
Waits for cancer tests longer than for Botox
Patients seeking an appointment with a dermatologist to ask about a potentially cancerous mole have to wait substantially longer than those seeking Botox for wrinkles, a study published online Tuesday by the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology said.
Researchers reported that dermatologists in several cities offered a typical wait of eight days for a cosmetic patient wanting Botox to smooth wrinkles, compared with a typical wait of 26 days for a patient requesting evaluation of a changing mole, a possible indicator of skin cancer.
Dr. Alexa B. Kimball, an associate professor of dermatology at Harvard Medical School, said a simple explanation might be that the demand for medical dermatologists outstrips the supply.
Other dermatologists said financial incentives to perform cosmetic treatments coupled with bureaucratic obstacles in obtaining insurance reimbursement might also have a role.
GENEVA
Nine guns for every 10 people in U.S.
There are nine guns for every 10 people in the United States, with about 270 million firearms in circulation, according to a report released Tuesday.
Worldwide, civilians now have access to 650 million small arms – from handguns to semiautomatic rifles – an arsenal that far outstrips what is held by police and militaries, according to the annual Small Arms Survey.
It estimates that civilians account for about three-fourths of the 875 million such weapons in circulation.
Of the 8 million new firearms manufactured annually around the world, roughly 4.5 million are bought in the United States.
Other countries with high per- capita ownership include Yemen, with 61 small arms per 100 people; Finland with 56; Switzerland with 46; and Iraq with 39.
