Wife charged in Briton’s faked death
MIDDLESBROUGH, England — Police filed charges Monday against the wife of a former British prison officer accused of faking his own death in an insurance scam, alleging she illegally obtained $330,000 after he was declared dead.
Anne Darwin, 55, was scheduled to appear in court today on two charges of using deception in 2003 to obtain the money. Police said they would seek to keep her in custody.
On Monday, her husband, John Darwin, 57, appeared in court. He did not enter a plea on the two charges he faces: dishonestly obtaining an insurance claim by falsely claiming he had been killed, and obtaining a passport under a false name.
Police on Monday released a photo he used to get the passport in October 2003 and asked anyone in Britain, Europe or the Americas who recognizes him to contact police.
Cuba to let U.N. oversee human rights
HAVANA — Cuba said Monday that it will allow United Nations oversight of its human rights record. Minutes after the announcement, plainclothes police and government supporters broke up a peaceful march marking International Human Rights Day.
Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque said Cuba would sign the U.N.’s International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and a similar agreement on economic and social issues by next March.
Search for medical helicopter called off
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Authorities called off the search Monday for a medical transport helicopter that disappeared a week ago with four people on board.
Another helicopter found the body of 47-year-old John Stumpff, a flight nurse, in Prince William Sound on Saturday.
The same crew spotted a helicopter door washed ashore nearby, and searchers found medical equipment in the same general location Sunday.
Three other people were aboard: patient Gaye McDowell, 60; pilot Lance Brabham, 42; and paramedic Cameron Carter, 25. The helicopter was on its way from Cordova to Anchorage when it disappeared Dec. 3.
N.Y. Philharmonic to perform in N. Korea
NEW YORK — The New York Philharmonic has decided to perform in North Korea, a cultural breakthrough as tense relations between the United States and the reclusive communist nation ease, the orchestra’s president said Monday.
The concert will be Feb. 26, said Zarin Mehta, the Philharmonic’s president and executive director. He declined to provide further details, saying a formal announcement of the trip is scheduled for today.
Khadafy on official visit to France
PARIS — Redemption, at last, seems to have come for Col. Moammar Khadafy. The veteran Libyan leader began a five-day official visit to France on Monday — his first in more than three decades — pitching his own heated Bedouin-style tent for receiving guests in the garden of the Paris mansion that houses visiting dignitaries.
But the visit was sharply criticized, even within the ranks of President Nicolas Sarkozy’s government.
“Colonel Khadafy must understand that our country is not a doormat on which a leader, terrorist or not, can come to wipe the blood of his crimes off his feet,” France’s secretary of state for human rights, Rama Yade, said in an interview Monday.
Sarkozy told reporters he had insisted to the Libyan that “it was necessary to continue to move forward on the path of human rights.”
Man in sextuplet scam gets prison
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A man who lied about being the father of sextuplets so he and his wife could solicit donations was sentenced Monday to three years in prison for violating probation.
Kris Everson, 35, and his wife, Sarah, 46, had been sentenced in August 2006 to four years’ probation after each pleaded guilty to one count of felony stealing by deceit. They were required to pay $3,661 restitution and perform 40 hours of community service.
But warrants for the couple were issued after they failed to pay restitution and missed several probation violation hearings.
Community leaders in Grain Valley said the Eversons came to them in March 2006, saying they had delivered six critically ill babies and needed help. The couple claimed the births were being kept secret by a court order because a family member was out to kill them.
They later admitted the story was a hoax, police said.
City sues owners of ship that hit Bay Bridge
SAN FRANCISCO — The city of San Francisco on Monday sued the owners of the container ship that sideswiped the Bay Bridge in November and spilled 58,000 gallons of fuel oil, blackening the coastline and wildlife, shutting down the fishing industry and spawning an expensive mop-up operation.
City Attorney Dennis Herrera filed suit in San Francisco Superior Court against Regal Stone Ltd. and several other companies that own the Cosco Busan.
Also named in the suit is the local bar pilot, John Cota, who was at the helm when the 900-foot ship smacked one of the bridge columns in heavy fog on the morning of Nov. 7.
