World Nation Briefs March 30, 2013
Police ID suspect in abduction of 10-year-old girl
LOS ANGELES - Police on Saturday released the name of a man suspected in the abduction of a 10-year-old girl who was snatched from her San Fernando Valley home before dawn last week and abandoned hours later in front of a hospital.
Tobias Dustin Summers, a 30-year-old man who was recently released from prison, was identified as a "child-kidnapping suspect," Los Angeles police said. Summers has a lengthy criminal record, having been arrested in the past for robbery, grand theft auto and kidnapping, according to authorities.
Dozens of detectives worked around the clock looking for clues since the girl was abducted from her home on Wednesday. She was found hours later, wandering near a Starbucks several miles from her home.
The girl was barefoot, scratched and not wearing the same clothes she had on when she vanished. She told the police two men she didn't recognize had taken her from her home.
Investigators have said they believe the girl was driven around the San Fernando Valley in a couple of cars and taken to at least two locations, including a storage facility, before she was released.
North Korea warns South of 'state of war'
SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea warned Seoul on Saturday that the Korean Peninsula had entered "a state of war" and threatened to shut down a border factory complex that's the last major symbol of inter-Korean cooperation.
Analysts say a full-scale conflict is extremely unlikely, noting that the Korean Peninsula has remained in a technical state of war for 60 years. But the North's continued threats toward Seoul and Washington, including a vow to launch a nuclear strike, have raised worries that a misjudgment between the sides could lead to a clash.
In Washington, the White House said Saturday that the United States is taking seriously the new threats by North Korea but also noted Pyongyang's history of "bellicose rhetoric."
North Korea's threats are seen as efforts to provoke the new government in Seoul, led by President Park Geun-hye, to change its policies toward Pyongyang, and to win diplomatic talks with Washington that could get it more aid. North Korea's moves are also seen as ways to build domestic unity as young leader Kim Jong Un strengthens his military credentials.
Surgeon's patients line up for HIV, hepatitis tests
TULSA, Okla. - Hundreds of patients of an Oklahoma oral surgeon accused of unsanitary practices showed up at a health clinic Saturday, looking to find out whether they were exposed to hepatitis or the virus that causes AIDS.
Letters began going out Friday to 7,000 patients who had seen Dr. W. Scott Harrington during the past six years, warning them that poor hygiene at his clinics created a public health hazard. The one-page letter said how and where to seek treatment but couldn't explain why Harrington's allegedly unsafe practices went on for so long.
Testing for hepatitis B, hepatitis C and the virus that causes AIDS began at 10 a.m. Saturday, but many arrived early and stood through torrential downpours.
- The Associated Press