World/Nation Briefs October 18, 2011
<p>Coyotes claimed to be cloned by disgraced South Korean scientist Hwang Woo-suk and his team are shown at a farm in Pyeongtaek, south of Seoul, South Korea, Monday. A South Korean team led by Hwang is claiming to have cloned coyotes for the first time.</p>
Fatal crash on Snoqualmie Pass delays traffic
SNOQUALMIE PASS, Wash. - The Washington State Patrol says a fatal collision on eastbound Interstate 90 on Snoqualmie Pass killed two Boise, Idaho, residents and caused traffic to back up for roughly seven miles.
Lt. Scott Martin says a 68-year-old man and a 73-year-old woman who share the same last name were killed Monday. Their relationship wasn't immediately clear and they were not immediately identified.
Martin says a tractor-trailer rig slammed into the back of the couple's SUV, triggering a chain-reaction collision.
Martin says the crash appears to have been caused by inattention on the part of the truck driver. Several other people were injured.
Palestinians: Israeli soldier moved to Egypt
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Palestinian officials in Gaza said a captured Israeli soldier was moved across the border into Egypt early Tuesday, beginning an elaborate prisoner swap deal in which hundreds of Palestinian inmates are to be freed in return for the captured tank crewman.
The officials said an SUV filled with armed men whisked Sgt. Gilad Schalit across the border and quickly returned to Gaza early Tuesday. Buses of Palestinian prisoners were also beginning to move from Israel into Egypt en route to Gaza, they said.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. Israel's Army Radio station, citing anonymous Israeli officials, confirmed the report.
In all, Israel is slated to release 1,027 prisoners for Schalit, who had been held in Gaza since he was captured more than five years ago by Palestinian militants in a cross-border raid.
Before dawn, convoys of white vans and trucks transported hundreds of Palestinian prisoners to the locations in the West Bank and on the Israel-Egypt border where they were to be freed. In Gaza, the Red Cross confirmed that the prisoners slated for release had arrived at the nearby border crossing.
The exchange, negotiated through Egyptian mediators because Israel and Hamas will not talk directly to each other, is going ahead despite criticism and court appeals in Israel against the release of the prisoners. Nearly 300 of them were serving lengthy sentences for involvement in deadly attacks.
The exchange involves a delicate series of staged releases, each one triggering the next. The Red Cross and Egyptian officials are involved in facilitating the movement of prisoners.
Libyan forces seize last Gadhafi stronghold
TRIPOLI, Libya - Libyan revolutionary forces have captured almost all of Bani Walid, one of Moammar Gadhafi's last remaining strongholds, but still face pockets of resistance as they try to end a weeks-long standoff, officials said Monday.
Fierce resistance in Bani Walid and Gadhafi's hometown of Sirte has prevented Libya's new leaders from declaring full victory and setting a timeline for elections. It has been more than two months since the former rebels gained control of the rest of the oil-rich North African nation.
In a step toward normalcy, the transitional leadership council confirmed it has signed an agreement with NATO that partially lifts the no-fly zone imposed in March over the country, allowing resumption of some flights without seeking NATO approval. The embargo was imposed as part of the U.N. Security Council resolution that authorized airstrikes to protect civilians from Gadhafi's regime.
Anwar Elfeitori, the minister of transportation and communications, said the agreement signed Thursday in Malta will make it easier to transport wounded fighters from the front lines for treatment.
Four people locked in Philly basement
PHILADELPHIA - The landlord of the apartment building at first thought a circuit breaker had tripped when he went to the basement Saturday and found all the lights were out. Then he realized all six bulbs had been removed, and he heard dogs barking inside a boiler room, its door chained shut.
He removed the chain, stepped into the dank, foul-smelling room and lifted a pile of blankets. Several sets of human eyes stared back at him.
Turgut Gozleveli had stumbled upon four mentally disabled adults, all weak and malnourished, and one chained to the boiler.
He may have also stumbled upon a vast scheme - stretching from Philadelphia to Norfolk, Va.; West Palm Beach, Fla., and Texas - to steal the Social Security disability checks of defenseless and vulnerable people, authorities said.
Philadelphia police on Saturday arrested three adults staying in an apartment upstairs, including the person accused of being the ringleader, Linda Ann Weston, who had been convicted of murder in a 1981 starvation death.
Detectives also found dozens of ID cards, power-of-attorney forms and other documents in the apartment, suggesting the theft scheme involved more than just the four captives.
"Without a doubt. This is just the beginning of this investigation," Lt. Ray Evers said Monday.
- The Associated Press