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8A – Daily News – Friday, October 8, 2010 WORLD BRIEFING Hungary says toxic red sludge has reached the Danube KOLONTAR, Hungary (AP) — The toxic red sludge that burst out of a Hun- garian factory’s reservoir reached the mighty Danube on Thursday after wreaking havoc on smaller rivers and creeks, and downstream nations rushed to test their waters. The European Union and environ- mental officials fear an environmental catastrophe affecting half a dozen nations if the red sludge, a waste product of making aluminum, contaminates the Danube, Europe’s second-longest river. Officials from Croatia, Serbia and Romania were taking river samples every few hours Thursday but hoping that the Danube’s huge water volume would blunt the impact of the spill. The Hungarian reservoir break on Monday disgorged a toxic torrent through three villages and creeks that flow into waterways connected to the Danube. Creeks in Kolontar, the western village closest to the spill site, were still swollen and ochre red days later and vil- lagers said they were devoid of fish. The red sludge reached the western branch of the Danube early Thursday and its broad, main stretch by noon, Hungarian rescue agency spokesman Tibor Dobson told the state MTI news agency. Search for American tourist reported shot thwarted by threats ZAPATA, Texas (AP) — U.S. offi- cials say the search for an American tourist reportedly shot dead on a border lake by Mexican pirates has been ham- pered by threats of an ambush from drug gangs. U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas said the search for David Hartley was temporarily halted Wednesday evening as Mexican officials ‘‘worried about being ambushed.’’ He said the search resumed Thursday morning, but Mexican searchers are ‘‘doing this under threat of their lives.’’ Zapata County Sheriff Sigifredo Gon- zalez says the area where the shooting allegedly happened while Hartley and his wife explored the lake on Jet Skies is a stronghold of the Zeta drug gang. Gon- zalez says he’s sent word to Zetas that he wants the body returned and has no plans to prosecute. Cuellar and two other area congress- men say Mexico is ‘‘doing the best that they can.’’ Senate report says that US hires Afghan warlords and thugs WASHINGTON (AP) — Heavy U.S. reliance on private security in Afghanistan has helped to line the pock- Bring in this ad to receive $10 OFF* any COMPLETE AUTO REPAIR *Regular Price. 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Engineered corn turns out to be a good neighbor ets of the Taliban because contractors often don’t vet local recruits and wind up hiring warlords and thugs, Senate investigators said Thursday. The finding, in a report by the Senate Armed Services Committee, follows a separate congressional inquiry in June that concluded trucking contractors pay tens of millions of dollars a year to local warlords for convoy protection. Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Sen- ate panel, said he is worried the U.S. is unknowingly fostering the growth of Taliban-linked militias at a time when Kabul is struggling to recruit its own sol- diers and police officers. ‘‘Almost all are Afghans. Almost all are armed,’’ Levin, a Michigan Democ- rat, said of the army of young men work- ing under U.S. contracts. ‘‘We need to shut off the spigot of U.S. dollars flowing into the pockets of warlords and power brokers who act contrary to our interests and contribute to the corruption that weakens the sup- port of the Afghan people for their gov- ernment,’’ he added. 72,000 stimulus checks went to dead people WASHINGTON (AP) — More than 89,000 stimulus payments of $250 each went to people who were either dead or in prison, a government investigator says in a new report. The payments, which were part of last year’s massive economic recovery package, were meant to increase consumer spending to help stimulate the economy. But about $18 million went to nearly 72,000 people who were dead, according to the report by the Social Security Adminis- tration’s inspector general. The report esti- mates that a little more than half of those payments were returned. An additional $4.3 million went to more than 17,000 prison inmates, the report said. Most of the inmates, it turns out, were eligi- ble to get the payments because they were newly incarcerated and had been receiving Social Security before they were locked up. In all, the $250 payments were sent to about 52 million people who receive either Social Security or Supplemental Security Income, at a cost of about $13 billion. Other federal retirees also received the payments, but they were not part of the inspector gen- eral’s review. GOP Senate hopeful Angle says Muslim law taking hold in US LAS VEGAS (AP) — U.S. Senate can- didate Sharron Angle told a crowd of sup- porters that the country needs to address a ‘‘militant terrorist situation’’ that has allowed Islamic religious law to take hold in some American cities. Her comments came at a rally of tea party supporters in the Nevada resort town of Mesquite last week after the candidate was asked about Muslims angling to take over the country, and marked the latest of several controversial remarks by the Neva- da Republican. In a recording of the rally provided to The Associated Press by the Mesquite Local News, a man is heard asking Angle : ‘‘I keep hearing about Muslims wanting to take over the United States ... on a TV pro- gram just last night, I saw that they are tak- ing over a city in Michigan and the residents of the city, they want them out. They want them out. So, I want to hear your thoughts about that.’’ Angle responds that ‘‘we’re talking about a militant terrorist situation, which I believe it isn’t a widespread thing, but it is enough that we need to address, and we have been addressing it.’’ ‘‘My thoughts are these, first of all, Dearborn, Michigan, and Frankford, Texas are on American soil, and under constitu- tional law. Not Sharia law. And I don’t know how that happened in the United States,’’ she said. ‘‘It seems to me there is something fundamentally wrong with allowing a foreign system of law to even take hold in any municipality or govern- ment situation in our United States.’’ Obama rejects foreclosure documents bill WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama has rejected a bill that the White House fears could worsen the mounting problems caused by flawed or misleading documents used by banks in home foreclosures. White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Thursday that Obama is sending a newly passed bill back to Con- gress to be fixed because the current ver- sion has ‘‘unintended consequences on consumer protections.’’ The bill would loosen the process for providing a notary’s seal to documents and allow them to be done electronically. Obama will not sign a bill that would allow foreclosure and other documents to be accepted among multiple states. Consumer advocates and state officials MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — This corn turns out to be a very good neighbor. Corn that’s been genetically engineered to resist attacking borers produces a ‘‘halo effect’’ that provides huge benefits to other corn planted nearby, a new study finds. Since the borers that attack the genetically modified crops die, there are fewer of them to go after the non-modified version. Given that the corn borer has cost U.S. farmers $1 billion a year, the economic ben- efits are dramatic, according to the report in Friday’s edition of the journal Science. The genetically modified plants, called Bt corn, have had an economic benefit of $6.9 billion during the past 14 years in the five Upper Midwest corn-producing states studied, concluded the researchers. They were led by William Hutchison, head of the entomology department at the University of Minnesota, and Paul Mitchell, an agricul- tural economist at the University of Wis- consin. They said they were surprised to find that non-Bt corn acres actually reaped 62 percent of the benefit, or $4.3 billion. That’s because of the pest-control effect and because non-Bt seed is cheaper. ‘‘We knew there was a benefit but we didn’t realize it was going to be that high,’’ Hutchison said in an interview. Seminary leader says yoga is not Christian LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A Southern Baptist leader who is calling for Christians to avoid yoga and its spiritual attachments is getting plenty of pushback from enthusiasts who defend the ancient practice. Southern Baptist Seminary President Albert Mohler says the stretching and med- itative discipline derived from Eastern reli- gions is not a Christian pathway to God. Mohler said he objects to ‘‘the idea that the body is a vehicle for reaching con- sciousness with the divine.’’ ‘‘That’s just not Christianity,’’ Mohler told The Associated Press. Mohler said feedback has come through e-mail and comments on blogs and other websites since he wrote an essay to address questions about yoga he has heard for years. Ex-anchor Dobbs used immigrants without papers NEW YORK (AP) — The Nation mag- azine is reporting that former CNN anchor Lou Dobbs relied on illegal immigrants to help maintain his homes even as he spoke out on the air against them. The Nation said the article, published online Thursday, is based on a yearlong investigation including interviews with five immigrants who worked without papers on Dobbs’ properties in New Jersey and Flori- da. Dobbs said in an interview Thursday the article is ‘‘a political assault’’ based on what he called ‘‘the lie’’ that he has hired illegal immigrants. He says: ‘‘I have never, do not now, and never will.’’ Dobbs was host of a weeknight news and commentary hour on CNN until abrupt- ly resigning last November after 29 years with the network. He continues to host a syndicated radio show.