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8A – Daily News – Friday, April 2, 2010 WORLD BRIEFING Obama urges patience with health law PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Facing a public still wary of his massive health care overhaul, President Barack Obama urged Americans not to judge the nearly $1 tril- lion legislation he signed into law last week until the reforms take hold. During an enthusiastic, campaign-style appear- ance in Maine’s largest city, Obama mocked the pundits and pollsters who say he isn’t getting a boost from his yearlong campaign to pass the sweeping reform. ‘‘Every single day since I signed the reform law, there’s been another poll or headline that said, ’Nation still divided on health care reform. Polls haven’t changed yet.’ Well, yes. It just hap- pened last week,’’ Obama said to laughter. He continued: ‘‘Can you imagine if some of these reporters were working on a farm and you planted some seeds, and they came out the next day and they looked and — ’Nothing’s hap- pened. There’s no crop. We’re going to starve. Oh, no! It’s a disaster!’ It’s been a week, folks. So, before we find out if peo- ple like health care reform, we should wait to see what happens when we actually put it into place. Just a thought.’’ The president’s over- haul extends health cover- age to 32 million people who are uninsured and will shape how almost every American receives and pays for medical treatment. Some aspects of the plan go into effect this year, but president himself has said it could take four years for the full overhaul to take hold. More miles on less fuel WASHINGTON (AP) — Drivers will have to pay more for cars and trucks, but they’ll save at the pump under tough new federal rules aimed at boosting mileage, cutting emissions and hastening the next gen- eration of fuel-stingy hybrids and electric cars. The new standards, announced Thursday, call for a 35.5 miles-per-gallon average within six years, up nearly 10 mpg from now. By setting national stan- dards for fuel efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions from tailpipes, the govern- ment hopes to squeeze out more miles per gallon whether you buy a tiny Smart fortwo micro car, a rugged Dodge Ram pickup truck or something in between. The rules will cost con- sumers an estimated $434 extra per vehicle in the 2012 model year and $926 to the families, according to the affidavit. The company has a contract with Stericy- cle to dispose of any left- over medical waste. Authorities there said Stericycle disposes of waste such as operating room debris or syringes but does- n’t incinerate major body parts. Somali army per vehicle by 2016, the government said. But the heads of the Transportation Department and Environ- mental Protection Agency said car owners would save more than $3,000 over the lives of their vehicles through better gas mileage. Touting the plan, Trans- portation Secretary Ray LaHood said, ‘‘Putting more fuel-efficient cars on the road isn’t just the right thing to do for our environ- ment, it’s also a great way for Americans to save a lot of money at the pump.’’ NM business owner after body parts found in truck ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Police in Albuquerque arrested a businessman on fraud charges in a gruesome case in which body parts that were supposed to be cre- mated and returned to fami- lies turned up in plastic bins in a delivery truck in Kansas. Albuquerque police on Thursday identified two men and a woman whose remains were discovered among six heads and numerous other human body parts in the truck at a Kansas medical waste facil- ity. Bio Care Southwest owner Paul Montano, 31, was arrested late Wednes- day at his office on three counts of fraud and was being held on $100,000 bond. Sealed plastic bags con- taining the heads and body parts — apparently dis- membered with a chain saw or other coarse cutting instrument — were found last week in 12 large red plastic tubs inside a delivery truck at a Stericycle Inc. facility in Kansas City, Kan. The tubs had shipping labels from The Learning Center, which is affiliated with Bio Care. Bio Care receives donat- ed bodies and harvests organs and other parts, which it sells for medical research. Bodies are stored in refrigerated units until donated organs are returned, then Bio Care sends the remains for cre- mation and gives the ashes Child's Easter Basket Planting Class April 3rd @ 10:00 AM Beginning Garden Class Saturday, April 3rd @ 1 PM Both classes are FREE Red Bluff Garden Center 766 Antelope Blvd. (next to the fairgrounds) 527-0886 uses sticks MOGADISHU, Soma- lia (AP) — Somali army recruits are using sticks instead of guns as they train for combat against battle-hardened Islamist rebels. With the army lacking equipment and training, Somalia’s prime minister said an offensive the government has threatened to launch for months will be gradual instead of a blitzkrieg. The offensive, which has been repeatedly delayed for months, would be the govern- ment’s biggest attempt to restore control over an anarchic nation where an Islamist insurgency has taken root and whose coastline is dotted with pirate lairs. Hundreds of extremist foreign fighters have flocked to this African country, which experts fear could become a launching pad for attacks on the West. Officials familiar with the offensive’s planning said the delays are partly due to the army’s lack of equipment, training and a reliable system to pay its soldiers — problems the European Union hopes to address by training 2,000 troops under a plan it approved Wednesday. U.S. diplomats have been pressing Somali leaders to detail the goals of the assault against the al-Shabab insurgents as they figure out how the U.S. can help. U.S. offi- cials said the Pentagon is considering dispatching extra surveillance drones and other limited mili- tary support. Some sur- veillance drones can already be heard over the capital of Mogadishu at night. Pouring cold water on perceptions that the offen- sive will begin with an all-out assault, Prime Minister Omar Abdi- rashid Ali Sharmarke told The Associated Press it will be a slower expan- sion of the small area under the government’s control. Cardinals defend pope VATICAN CITY (AP) — Cardinals across Europe used their Holy Thursday sermons to defend Pope Benedict XVI from accusations he played a role in cov- ering up sex abuse scan- dals, and an increasing- ly angry Vatican sought to deflect any criticism in the Western media. The relationship between the church and the media has become increasingly bitter as the scandal buffeting the & Gardening 10-25% OFF MSRP HYDROPONICS Indoor Lighting ADVANCED 1417 SOLANO ST., CORNING 824-1100 NOW OPEN SUNDAYS 2 said the deaths of a few providers like Dr. George Tiller must be weighed against the millions of abortions that have been per- formed. ‘‘I stopped him so he could not dismember another innocent baby,’’ Roeder said. ‘‘Wichita is a far safer place for unborn babies without George Tiller.’’ 1 billion-member church has touched the pontiff himself. On Wednesday, the church singled out The New York Times for criticism in an unusually harsh attack. Western news organi- zations, including The Associated Press, have reported extensively on the burgeoning scandal, and new details have emerged on an almost daily basis. On Holy Thursday, Benedict first celebrated a Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica dedicated to the union between the pope and the world’s priests. In the late afternoon, he washed the feet of 12 priests in a ceremony symbolizing humility and commemorating Christ’s Last Supper with his 12 apostles on the evening before his Good Friday crucifix- ion. Although there were expectations by some that the pope would address the crisis, Bene- dict made no reference to the scandal at either ceremony. Abortion doctor’s killer lashes out at court WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A man who murdered one of the few U.S. doc- tors who performed late-term abortions lashed out at the court during his sentencing hearing Thursday and took the opportunity to describe abortion proce- dures in detail, which he was previously forbid- den from doing during the trial. Scott Roeder, 52, accused Sedgwick County District Judge Warren Wilbert of ‘‘duplicity’’ and said his trial was a miscarriage of justice because he wasn’t allowed to pre- sent testimony about the evils of abortion. He $ Money $ 2 Lend Cash 4 Notes McKinley Mortgage Co. 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During the testimony portion of his trial, before he was convict- ed, Roeder was barred from describing abor- tion procedures. Abor- tion is legal in Kansas, and prosecutors careful- ly laid out their case so as not to turn it into a referendum on abortion. Karzai blasts foreign influence KABUL (AP) — President Hamid Karzai lashed out at the U.N. and international com- munity Thursday, accusing them of inter- fering in last year’s fraud-tarnished presi- dential election and seeking to weaken his authority after parlia- ment rejected his bid to expand his control over the country’s electoral institutions. Karzai did not specif- ically mention the Unit- ed States, but his harsh words — and his prac- tice of blaming foreign- ers for the nation’s problems — reflect his increasingly difficult relations with Washing- ton and its international allies. President Barack Obama paid an unan- nounced visit here Sun- day in hopes of setting a new tone in dealings with the Afghan leader, as the U.S.-led coalition prepares for a show- down with the Taliban this summer in its southern stronghold of Kandahar — Karzai’s home province. The Obama adminis- tration has maintained a reliable Afghan political partner is critical to turning back the Tal- iban, and State Depart- ment spokesman P.J. Crowley rejected any attempt to undermine Karzai. ‘‘Karzai has to step forward, lead his gov- ernment in terms of con- vincing the international community and the Afghan people that they are taking measurable steps to reduce corrup- tion,’’ Crowley said in Washington. ‘‘It’s not in anyone’s interest to see Afghanistan poorly led or weakly led in the future.’’ Jennifer Hudson to be weight loss spokeswoman NEW YORK (AP) — Jennifer Hudson didn’t gain a huge amount of weight when she was pregnant with her son, but it was enough to make her do a double- take when she saw a picture of herself. ‘‘I didn’t realize it was me,’’ the singer and actress said Thursday. ‘‘I was like, ’Who? ... Oh, my God, this is me.’ And now when I look back, wow, look at the difference from then to now.’’ Hudson, a former ‘‘American Idol’’ final- ist who won a best sup- porting actress Acade- my Award for ‘‘Dream- girls,’’ has lost the baby weight and more, and she says it’s because of Weight Watchers — for which she is the new spokeswoman. Hudson said she has always been happy with her curves but after she gave birth to David Daniel Otunga Jr. last August she felt the need to take control of her body and her eating habits. ‘‘How can I make a better me, or grow or do some changes, anything, just experiment, because I have me back now,’’ she said. ‘‘And then at the same time, having the baby ... it’s like, OK, this is a good way of how I would want my child to grow up, because so many times in growing up, you gain really bad habits ... so I want to make sure that he’s going into this and I’m being a good example for him.’’ Va man sues PetSmart NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — A Poquoson man who said he fell after stepping in dog feces at a PetSmart store has filed a $1 million negli- gence lawsuit against the company. Robert Holloway alleges in his lawsuit in U.S. District Court that he badly injured his back, struck his head and knocked out four teeth when he slipped in January 2009 at a New- port News PetSmart. He alleges that PetS- mart and its manager should have protected him from a hazardous condition created when they allowed animals to defecate on the floor. In court documents, Phoenix-based PetSmart denied the negligence allegations. No Job Too Small Alterations by Dolores Maxwell Specializing in Bridal Located in 815 Walnut St. Red Bluff 529-1474 Tue-Fri. 10am-4pm Bud’s