Combined briefs package

PAKISTAN

Two polio workers gunned down

Two volunteers in a polio immunization campaign were shot to death on Sunday in the Swabi district of northeastern Pakistan, police said. The shootings occurred in the village of Pebani. The two volunteers, one a local schoolteacher, were killed by two gunmen, said Mian Saeed, district police chief. It was the second attack on polio workers in the district. A police constable accompanying a polio team was killed in January. Militants believe that polio vaccination is against Islamic law.

NORTHERN IRELAND

G-8 ready to take up Syria, taxes

Police are expected to outnumber protesters today at the G-8 summit, where leaders will seek to narrow their differences on Syria’s civil war, promoting freer trade between Europe and North America, and combating global tax evasion. Police commanders expect only 2,000 protesters to travel to the remote lakeside area for tonight’s main planned demonstration. The host, British Prime Minister David Cameron, has pushed for more sharing of financial information among countries.

WASHINGTON

Obama chooses Guantanamo closure envoy

President Barack Obama has chosen a high-powered Washington lawyer with extensive experience in all three branches of the government to be the State Department’s special envoy for closing down the military-run prison at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba. Clifford Sloan is the pick to reopen the State Department’s Office of Guantanamo Closure, shuttered since January and folded into the department’s legal adviser’s office when the administration, in the face of congressional obstacles, effectively gave up its attempt to close the prison. A formal announcement of Sloan’s appointment is expected today, officials said.

SOUTH AFRICA

Mandela with family, improving

Former South African President Nelson Mandela is engaging with his family and improving from the recurring lung infection that forced him to spend a ninth day in the hospital Sunday, President Jacob Zuma said. Mandela remains in serious condition, but his doctors say his health has improved over the last two days. Mandela, Nobel Peace Prize winner, has been particularly vulnerable to respiratory problems since contracting tuberculosis during his 27 years in prison.

MEXICO

Severe flooding hits border city

Heavy weekend rains have caused severe flooding in the Mexican city of Piedras Negras on the border with Texas. Coahuila state officials said one person died and 10,000 houses were damaged, leaving 40,000 peoples homeless. State government secretary Armando Luna Canales said Sunday that one of the hardest hit zones was the city center, where many businesses reported flood losses. The city sits across the Rio Grande from Eagle Pass, Texas.

TEXAS

Bush’s plane makes emergency stop

A private jet carrying former President George W. Bush made an emergency landing Saturday night. The Federal Aviation Administration said Sunday that the jet was flying from Philadelphia to Dallas, where Bush lives. The FAA said the plane was diverted to Louisville, Ky., after the smell of smoke was reported in the cockpit. No one was hurt. Bush spokesman Freddy Ford said Sunday that after a brief stop, the plane continued to Dallas.

INDIANA

Woman on death row to be freed

An Indiana woman put on death row at age 16 for killing an elderly Bible school teacher is scheduled to be released today after the state Supreme Court intervened. Paula Cooper’s death sentence at such a young age sparked international protests and a plea for clemency from Pope John Paul II. Cooper, now 43, was 15 when she and three other teenage girls showed up at Ruth Pelke’s house on May 14, 1985, with plans of robbing the 78-year-old Bible school teacher. As the fourth teen waited outside as a lookout, Cooper stabbed Pelke 33 times with a butcher knife. Then she and the other girls ransacked the house and fled with Pelke’s car and $10.

NEW YORK