Washington - Police arrested five members of the US Congress on Monday during a protest outside the Sudanese embassy against the conflict in Darfur. Democratic representatives Jim McGovern, John Lewis, Donna Edwards, Keith Ellison and Lynn Woolsey were taken into custody for crossing into an area cordoned off by police, Chris Shields, a spokesman for Woolsey, said.
Police warned the lawmakers several times to not cross the yellow-taped line outside the embassy , Shields said. They were charged with misdemeanor trespassing after surrendering peacefully to the police, he said.
Washington - The White House issued an apology Monday after a presidential plane flying low over New York for a photo shoot left people on the ground panicking over worries a terrorist attack was underway. The massive Boeing 747, shadowed by an F-16 fighter jet, was passing over the Hudson River at times at altitudes lower than some buildings in downtown Manhattan. Hundreds of people rushed out of their offices and onto the street, fearing another September 11, 2001-style attack.
Washington - US and Cuban diplomats were to meet on Monday for the second round of talks on improving relations between the two countries since President Barack Obama took office. Assistant Secretary of State Tom Shannon was to hold talks with the top Cuban representative in Washington, Jorge Alberto Bolanos, just two weeks after Obama announced an easing of sanctions on the communist island.
New York - The Sudanese army and rebel groups in Sudan's Darfur region have turned guns against each other and are purging members of their own groups some two months after signing a ceasefire, a UN official said Monday. All warring parties have killed civilians, said Rodolphe Adada, the representative of the United Nations-African Union peacekeeping mission in troubled Darfur.
New York - Verizon Communications Inc, the second-largest US phone company, had better-than-expected profits of about 3.2 billion dollars in the first quarter as customers laid out more money for text messaging and other services. Sales rose 12 per cent to 26.6 billion dollars, bolstered by the purchase of Alltel Corp. But global business revenues dropped 3.4 per cent as companies fired workers and delayed new purchases, Bloomberg financial news service reported.
Washington - The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was to issue an advisory against non-essential travel to Mexico - the epicentre of the global swine flu outbreak - acting director Richard Besser said Monday. "This is out of an abundance of caution," he said, adding that the Atlanta, Georgia-based CDC had confirmed 26 deaths in Mexico were a result of swine flu. "This is a small fraction of what they are seeing," Besser warned.
