Gunshot starts stampede at Mexico cattle fair, five trampled to deathMONTERREY, Mexico (AP) — Five people were trampled to death early Sunday when a gunshot fired at a cattle fair sent a panic-stricken crowd rushing for the exits in a northern Mexico town already on edge from rampant drug violence.At least 17 other people were injured at the fair in Guadalupe.–Pope believes in authenticity of Christ’s supposed burial clothTURIN, Italy (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI all but gave an outright endorsement of the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin on Sunday, calling the cloth that some believe is Christ’s burial shroud an icon “written with the blood” of a crucified man.During a visit to the Shroud in the northern Italian city of Turin, Benedict didn’t raise the scientific questions that surround the linen and whether it might be a medieval forgery. –Videotape shows possible SUV bomb suspect undressing in alleyNEW YORK (AP) — Police investigating a failed car bomb left in Times Square have a videotape of a possible suspect shedding clothing in an alley and putting it in a bag and found a substance that resembled fertilizer in the parked SUV, Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Sunday.The surveillance video shows a white man in his 40s taking off one shirt, revealing another underneath.Kelly said officers were on their way to a Pennsylvania town to talk to a tourist who also might have recorded the suspect on his video camera.–Arizona’s largest paper criticizes politicians for immigration failurePHOENIX (AP) — Arizona’s largest newspaper criticized U.S. Sens. John McCain and Jon Kyl and a host of other elected officials in a rare front-page editorial Sunday, saying the politicians have failed to find solutions to illegal immigration.The state has become the target of calls for boycotts since adopting a law that requires local and state law enforcement officers to question people about their immigration status if there’s reason to suspect they’re in the country illegally.–Attorneys general for five states talk legal strategy for oil spillMOBILE, Ala. (AP) — The attorneys general from Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas want BP PLC to sign an agreement spelling out exactly what “legitimate expenses” they’ll cover from the spill.Florida AG Bill McCollum said after Sunday’s meeting in Mobile, Ala., that he doesn’t know if expenses include business losses, protecting environmental areas and lost wages for restaurant workers.The men say BP executives told them the company would review their request.The men aren’t going to file a lawsuit yet, but they say they want Gulf Coast residents to know that they will work together to hold BP and other responsible parties accountable.The AGs also want to tap an entire federal oil spill response fund, which is capped at $1 billion per incident.–Local authorities holding off on Saints theft investigationsNEW ORLEANS (AP) — Local authorities are holding off on investigating possible criminal accusations in a lawsuit involving the New Orleans Saints. The civil suit brought by former Saints security director Geoffrey Santini alleges several possible state offenses, including theft of prescription drugs from the club’s suburban headquarters by senior staff.–Blessing of the boats in St. Bernard Parish a sad, tiny affair this yearCHALMETTE (AP) — The blessing of the boats is normally a joyous kickoff to the spring fishing season in St. Bernard Parish. But this year’s affair had more the air of a wake. Some years as many as 200 craft, most of them working boats, line up at the Gulf Outlet Marina to be sprinkled with holy water by a waiting priest. On Sunday only four boats floated by for the blessing — and not one a commercial vessel.
Nation & World: 5/3/10
By The Associated Press
May 1, 2010