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Show DAILY HERALD A4 Thunday, Juty 31, 2008 FAST FACT Morning Briefing The avoirdupois weight is the system we use whenever we measure a grain, dram (27.3 grains), ounce (1 6 drams) or pound (1 6 ounces). Source: The Book of Answers Compiled from Daily Herald wire sen'ices The Nation Building codes credited after Calif, quake The CHINO HILLS, Calif. latest in plywood-reinforce- d n walls, foundations, x- ' tied-dow- strengthened concrete and if an earthstronger welds quake had to hit somewhere in densely populated Southern California, this relatively new suburb of 80,000 people was about the best place possible. Chino Hills was just a few miles from the epicenter of Tuesday's magnitude-5.- 4 quake, yet it withstood the shaking with almost no damage at all, even while other communities farther away saw fallen bricks, cracked walls and windows, warped door frames and broken water mains and gas lines. One big reason: Chino Hills went up mostly in the 1990s and was built to the stringent earthquake standards that the state wants to see adopted everywhere across California before the Big One strikes. "I was wandering around out there after the quake and it struck me that there's no building there that's more than 10 years old. They're all built to the most recent codes, and I think that's true of the whole FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. The Fort Bragg sergeant charged in the death of a pregnant soldier was the father of her unborn baby but married to someone else, police said Wednesday. Fayetteville Police Chief Tom Bergamine said during a news conference that Sgt. Edgar Patino, 27, admitted fathering Spc. Megan L. Touma's baby. Touma, 23, was seven months pregnant when found dead in a motel bathtub last month. Patino, who was arrested at his home Tuesday, acknowledged being in Touma's hotel room June 13, the last day her hotel room key was used, police said. He made his first court appearance Wednesday and asked for a public defense attorney, but one was not immediately assigned. Police also believe Patino was the author of letters sent to The Fayetteville Observer and police from a person who claimed to be a serial killer responsible for Touma's death. Patino purchased a typewriter the day before the letters were sent, police said. The newspaper gave its letter to police. The letter featured a circle-and-cro- drawing that was the same as one used a generation ago by San Francisco's in- famous Zodiac Killer. Authorities said a similar symbol had also been drawn in lipstick on the motel room mirror. f , ; - - w " 14 : vv " ft ( i A i ' h , 1 j v . s V it .v.n I " 5. , A I 4 ' yvMmmmmmmmm0i ljStMwmMimm mi.im.Wh. FRANK JACOBS IllThe Times of Trenton Signed, sealed and delivered Emergency orkers in protective suits enter Princeton Borough Hall in Princeton Borough, N.J. on Wednesday. Officials on Wednesday were trying to determine what caused government workers to feel ill after a letter from a Louisiana nursing-hom- e resident to a New Jersey mayoer was opened. "We feel there was significant evidence that Patino published those letters, mailed those letters to throw off the investigation," said police Sgt. Chris Corcione. is Police MOBILE, Ala. believe a body found in a smalltime evangelist's home freezer is his wife and a mother of eight, and arrested him on a murder charge as he preached at a south Alabama church. d, State police BOSTON issued an Amber Alert on Wednesday for four children taken with their mother from an apartment where another woman was found fatally stabbed. The children range in age from 1 1 months to 3 years. All five are believed to be with their father, Rodlyn Petitbois. Essex District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett said his office was seeking an arrest warrant for Petitbois on a first degree murder charge. "At this point in time we believe Rodlyn is extremely dangerous and may be armed," accomplice. Next space tourist spending bulk of fortune to fly CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. The world's next space tourist, a computer game wizard, said Wednesday he's spending the bulk of his fortune on his $30 million adventure this fall. Richard Garriott will make history as the first child of an American astronaut to rocket into orbit, and his dad will keep in touch with him during his Blodgett said. Police in Lynn, about 15 miles north of Boston, went to the apartment early Wednesday after receiving a report of a stabbing. They found Greenland Etienne, 33, with stab wounds to her face. She was pronounced dead a short time later at Mas time in space. Garriott is set to fly aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft to the international space station Oct. 12. Speaking at a news conference in Houston on Wednesday, he said: "To be frank, this MATT GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba A former driver for Osama Bin Laden says he never told a Defense Department agent he swore an oath of loyalty to the terrorist leader. Salim Hamdan told a judge Wednesday he never swore "bayat," contradicting the testimony of a former interrogator. The judge presiding over the first Guantanamo war crimes trial is investigating whether the May 2003 interrogation is tainted by coercion and therefore inadmissible. If the judge allows testimony that Hamdan swore "bayat," it would contradict defense lawyers' claim that he had no allegiance to V Beijing pollution index shows improvement 5A CHOBIAssociated Press Ancient Greek gadget The front face of a model replica of an ancient astronomical calculator, fenown as the Antikythera Mechanism, is seen Press Lighting up ... again price tag is the majority of my wealth." The Garriott said space flight was a goal he'd been working toward for much of his life. Poor eyesight ruined whatever shot he might have had at becoming a professional astronaut. "But versus being crushed and giving up on that dreWn, that just set me on the path of Anthony Hopkins, 37, was being held in the Mobile County jail Wednesday awaiting a bond hearing and appointment of an attorney. Police said no one reported Arletha Hopkins missing, even though she hadn't been heard from in three years. The body was discovered covered in a freezer in a utility room during a police search of the home in Mobile after a relative of the preacher contacted police. Mobile Police Chief Phillip saying, 'Oh, wait a minute, you Garrett said Hopkins was arcan't tell me no,' " he said. "Lit- rested Monday night at at a revival in Jackson, a town in erally, throughout my entire rural Clarke County where he professional career, I've been investing in the privatization of has roots. The pastor of Inspirational space. ... so my father, he was not shocked at all to see me Tabernacle Church of God in Christ Beverly Jackson told pursuing this." His father, Owen Garriott, reporters that Hopkins told her he was a single parent 77, was a NASA astronaut who visited America's first because his wife had died in childbirth. space station, Skylab, in 1973. The WORLD . . SAYLESAssociated Comedians Cheech Marin right and Tommy Chong pose for a portrait after a news conference announcing their upcoming tour "Cheech & Chong: Light Up America" in West Hollywood, Calif., on Wedneday. tn Bin Laden's former driver denies oath LOSMI Police: Body in freezer preacher s wife sachusetts General Hospital. Blodgett said authorities believe there was a "social" relationship between the missing family and Etienne, but that link was still being investigated. Authorities said the mother of the children, Louna Eveil-larmay have a stab wound to her hand and may be wearing a bandage. Blodgett said there was no indication she was an Amber Alert issued in Mass. for 4 children ; II - , Chino area," said Lucy Jones, a seismologist with the U.S. Geological Survey. "The type of earthquake that used to be a major event just isn't anymore." Baby's father the suspect in pregnant soldier's slaying - BEIJING Beijing's pollution levels dropped Wednesday to less than half of the previous day's, the lowest reading since authorities began pulling cars off the road and shutting down factories to address athletes' concerns about air quality ahead of the Olympic Games. A cooling wind and some rain helped sweep away pollutants and gave Beijingers a re- at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens on Wednesday. Experts say they have found evidence that the spite from the sultry heat and device was used to track dates of the ancient Olympic Games. humidity that had cloaked the city for days. The polluted skies over the Olympic host city have been one of the biggest worries for Olympics organizers. The concerns prompted Beijing officials to institute drastic measures earlier this month, included pulling half the city's 3.3 million vehicles off the roads, halting most construction and closing some factories in the capital and surrounding McKinnon, 42, an unemployed computer administrator, allegedly broke into 97 computers belonging to the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, and Department of Defense from a bedroom in a north London home. His attacks between 2001 and 2002 allegedly shut down the Army district responsible for protecting Washington, and cleared logs from computers at the Naval Weapons Staprovinces. The measures are having the tion Earle in New Jersey that desired effect, Du Shaozhong, tracks the location and of Navy ships. deputy director of Beijing's Environmental Protection BuThat last attack, coming im- -' reau, told The Associated Press mediately after the Sept. 11, in an interview. knocked out the station's en"The daily data since July 20 tire network of 300 computers. shows an improvement in air NASA and privately owned quality. It reflects the results computers also were damaged, since we restricted traffic and prosecutors said, putting the g factototal cost of his online activities stopped ries and construction," he said. at $900,000. "That's why we say the meaAt the time of his indictsures have been effective." ment, prosecutor Paul McNulty battle-readine- heavy-pollutin- court allows extradition of hacker U.K. LONDON said McKinnon pulled off "the biggest hack of military comat least ever puters ever detected." Some call it the biggest hack of military computers; perhaps it was just a big embarrassment. accused Gary McKinnon of breaking into military and NASA computers in what he claims was a search for UFOs, allegedly causing nearly $1 million in damage has lost his appeal against extradition to the United States. 30 killed as fighting escalates in Pakistan PESHAWAR, Pakistan Pakistani troops battled Islamic militants in a valley near the Afghan border Wednesday, killing 25 insurgents and losing five soldiers as escalating combat threatened the new government's policy of of fering peace to groups. n Authorities said security forces also chased off another band of extremists from a town elsewhere in the Swat Valley, a day after militants captured at least 25 police officers and paramilitary troops and clashes killed two soldiers and two militants. The military, meanwhile, rejected new claims that Pakistan's main intelligence service has ties with Islamic hardliners allied with the Taliban and Under U.S. pressure to crack down on militant sanctuaries along the border, Pakistan's government has sought to reach peace deals with fundamentalist Islamic groups in the northwestern tribal areas but increasing violence is raising questions about that approach. Wednesday's clash in Swat began when militants attacked a security post about 12 miles from Mingora, the valley's main town, the army spokesman, Maj. Gea Athar Abbas, said. He said troops repelled the attack, killing 25 militants and wounding many more, while five soldiers, including two officers, also died. Another group of about 70 militants tried to seize the market area of the town of Matta, but fled when reinforcements reached the police station, Abbas said. |