Haiti pins its hopes on a pop star president after upset victory
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Haiti’s pop-star-turned-president-elect donned a conservative gray suit Tuesday for his first news conference since his upset victory as Haitians wondered how this charismatic musician with a bad-boy past would govern the country in crisis.
As he did on the campaign trail, 50-year-old Michel “Sweet Micky” Martelly avoided any specifics about how he would lead, but appeared as far as possible from his outrageous stage persona as he spoke of reconciliation with political opponents and improving the lives of people in the most desperate, star-crossed nation in the Western Hemisphere.
“I would like to say first that I have always had the desire to change my country,” Martelly said.
 
Awareness group wants Austrian bakery charged for Nazi cakes
VIENNA (AP) — Owners of an Austrian pastry shop that showcases cakes decorated with Nazi themes should be prosecuted, a Holocaust awareness group urged Tuesday.
The bakery, located in the village of Maria Enzersdorf, near Vienna, features photos of cakes that are adorned with swastikas and other Nazi era symbols, including an arm raised in a Hitler salute, the Mauthausen Committee said. The pictures, it added, are contained in a binder showcasing previously produced baked goods that clients can flip through.
In an interview with Austrian television, Klaschka said the cakes were made about eight years ago and he never expected such a commotion.
“If it’s requested, it’s made,” Klaschka said. “I don’t want to be pulled into this because I’m a confectioner and there’s nothing more to it.”
 
Tree limb falls on home during Ga. storm, kills father and young son
JACKSON, Ga. (AP) — An enormous tree limb that crashed through a Georgia family’s bedroom Tuesday killed a father and his young son he was holding in his arms as a fast-moving storm system pounded the South with tornadoes, hail and spectacular lightning. At least nine people were killed around the region, including several who died on roads made treacherous by downed trees and power lines.
Paramedics found the 4-year-old boy, Alix Bonhomme III, wrapped in the arms of his father, Alix Bonhomme Jr. Neither Bonhomme’s fiancee, Marcie Moorer, nor a younger son were injured.
 
Mass. mom pleads not guilty to killing son in suicide attempt
QUINCY, Mass. (AP) — A Massachusetts woman has pleaded not guilty to charges that she drugged her 8-year-old son and killed him while trying to commit suicide by lighting a hibachi grill inside a bedroom in their apartment.
Li Rong Zhang entered the plea through an interpreter during her first formal court appearance Tuesday. A judge ordered the 39-year-old woman to remain in custody until her Aug. 18 pretrial hearing.
 
La. senate approves congressional redistricting plan Jindal opposed
(AP) — State senators on Tuesday agreed on a redesign of Louisiana’s congressional map that is at odds with the plan drawn by the state House, setting up a scramble for compromise with only a week to go in the redistricting special session.
The proposed new map of the U.S. House districts offered by Senate President Joel Chaisson and passed on a 23-15 vote goes against the wishes of Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal and the dean of the state’s congressional delegation, Republican U.S. Rep. Rodney Alexander.
 
Beheaded bald eagle found in La. parish ditch, perpetrator unknown
WINNSBORO (AP) — State and federal wildlife officials are looking for a person who beheaded a bald eagle in Franklin Parish and left the bird in a ditch.
The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are offering rewards totaling $2,000 for help in finding whoever did it.
Agents believe the eagle was shot a couple of days before it was found Sunday, on a tip from someone in the area. It’s at least the fifth bald eagle killed in the U.S. this year.
 
—-
Contact the Daily Reveille’s news staff at [email protected]