***DUPLICATION ALERTS:
BUSINESS: Please note GM retiree brief.***
PENNSYLVANIA
Marine’s missing heart sparks lawsuit
The parents of a Marine sergeant who died while stationed in Greece say they discovered weeks after his funeral that his body had been sent home without a heart — and that the Department of Defense later gave them somebody else’s heart in its place. Craig and Beverly LaLoup, who are suing the department, said Tuesday that authorities told them Brian LaLoup, 21, shot himself in the head during a party in August at the U.S. Embassy compound in Athens, where he worked a security detail. DNA results proved the heart was not their son’s. The family is asking for at least the minimum $75,000 for a federal claim.
NORWAY
Watchdog receives Nobel Peace Prize
Recalling the “burning, blinding and suffocating” horrors of chemical weapons, the head of a watchdog trying to consign them to history accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on Tuesday. Ahmet Uzumcu, director-general of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, said such toxic tools of warfare have an “especially nefarious legacy,” from the trenches of World War I to the poison gas attacks in Syria this year.
MEXICO
Man wanted in 200 killings captured
Federal police arrested an alleged drug trafficker who ordered or participated in more than 200 killings of rivals in western Mexico. Officials detained Felipe Viveros Garcia in the western state of Jalisco. Officials said the victims of the 30-year-old man were from Jalisco and Guerrero states. Police didn’t say which drug cartel Viveros Garcia allegedly belongs to. Authorities said Viveros Garcia held his victims for long periods of time in rural safe houses in the state of Guerrero before killing them.
MICHIGAN
GM wins retiree dispute ruling
A judge says General Motors has no legal obligation to make a $450 million payment for medical benefits for certain blue-collar retirees. The payment was part of a 2007 agreement between GM and the United Auto Workers before the old GM filed for bankruptcy. But the provision was missing from a 2009 deal signed by the new GM that emerged from bankruptcy. The deal was related to medical benefits for retirees who worked for GM or Delphi, a former affiliate.
CALIFORNIA
Man arrested in ‘revenge porn’ case
A San Diego man was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of operating a “revenge porn” website and demanding up to $350 to remove sexually explicit photos of women that were posted by former boyfriends or ex-husbands. Kevin Christopher Bollaert, 27, was being held on $50,000 bail. He faces 31 felony counts of conspiracy, identity theft and extortion. Bollaert allegedly created a website in December 2012 that allows the anonymous posting of nude and sexually explicit photos. The website required that the poster include the subject’s name, location, age and Facebook profile. Prosecutors said more than 10,000 images were posted.
NEW MEXICO
$80 million awarded in suffocation death
A judge awarded nearly $80 million to the family of a New Mexico woman who died in 2002 when a tractor-trailer struck her car and buried it in sand, suffocating the woman as teachers and students at a nearby school frantically tried to dig her out. Laura Miera, 48, of Albuquerque had just dropped off her 14-year-old daughter at Jimmy Carter Middle School and was waiting at a traffic light when the semi exited Interstate 40 and came barreling toward her. The Albuquerque Redi-Mix truck pushed her car to the curb, it rolled, and Miera was trapped as the semi’s open load of sand poured down on her.
CUBA
Dissidents detained on Human Rights Day
Cuban government agents have detained about 20 dissidents arriving for an International Human Rights Day march, halting the demonstration before it started. The opponents were seen being taken away in cars and buses Tuesday afternoon after their planned protest along a central street in Havana was interrupted. The would-be protesters resisted, but no injuries were reported. It was not known where they were taken. Pro-government demonstrators gathered in the street to shout slogans for the Cuban revolution.
JAMAICA
Slavery reparations battle expands
A Caribbean commission is expanding the number of former colonial powers it says should provide some form of reparations for the lingering regional impact of the Atlantic slave trade. The Caribbean Community Reparations Commission identified eight European nations that should work with regional governments to “address the living legacies of these crimes.” A British law firm hired by Caribbean governments seeking reparations initially targeted Britain, France and the Netherlands. But the Caribbean Community reparations panel, which is acting as an advisory group for regional governments, added Spain, Portugal, Denmark, Norway and Sweden to the list.
CHINA
University fires free-speech professor
Officials at one of China’s most respected universities have reportedly fired an outspoken legal scholar for advocating free speech and for repeatedly calling on the government to abide by its own constitution. Zhang Xuezhong, who teaches at the East China University of Political Science and Law in Shanghai, said administrators had notified him Monday that he would be dismissed after he refused to apologize for writings that championed the protections guaranteed by China’s Constitution.
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