U.S. won’t probe Chinese labor law
The Bush administration on Friday rejected a petition by American unions seeking an investigation into Chinese labor practices, arguing that there was evidence Chinese practices were improving.
The decision turned down a request filed in June by the AFL-CIO and two members of Congress who contended the Chinese were violating international labor standards and these practices had meant the loss of 1.24 million American jobs as U.S. companies moved plants to China.
In a statement issued by the office of U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab, the administration said engagement with China was resulting in improvement in Chinese labor conditions.
The statement cited an increase in Chinese wage rates and enhanced safety inspections as a result of U.S. engagement.
LOS ANGELES
Actor Jack Warden dies at 85
Jack Warden, an Emmy-winning and Academy Award-nominated actor who played gruff cops, coaches and soldiers in a career that spanned five decades, has died. He was 85.
Warden, who lived in Manhattan, died Wednesday at a hospital in New York, Sidney Pazoff, his longtime business manager, said in Los Angeles Friday.
Warden was nominated twice for supporting-actor Oscars in two Warren Beatty movies. He was nominated for his role in 1975’s “Shampoo” and the good-hearted football trainer in 1978’s “Heaven Can Wait.”
He won a supporting actor Emmy for his role as Chicago Bears coach George Halas in the 1971 made-for-TV movie “Brian’s Song” and was twice nominated in the 1980s for his show “Crazy Like a Fox.”
His numerous big-screen roles included a news editor in 1976’s “All the President’s Men,” Paul Newman’s law partner in 1982’s “The Verdict’ and the president in the 1979 Peter Sellers movie “Being There.”
BOSTON
Police face federal drug charges
Three Boston police officers accused of taking $35,000 in exchange for protecting a cocaine shipment were arrested in Miami on federal drug charges in an FBI sting operation, authorities said Friday.
Roberto Pulido, 41, Carlos Pizarro, 36, and Nelson Carrasquillo, 35, were arrested late Thursday in Miami. Authorities described Pulido as the ringleader and said he was involved in a broad range of other illegal activities, from identity theft to smuggling illegal immigrants to selling steroids.
All three officers appeared briefly Friday in federal court in Miami but did not enter pleas. The judge ordered them held until a detention hearing, set for Wednesday.
SPRINGVILLE, Utah
Black bear nips sleeping Boy Scout
A black bear that bit a sleeping Boy Scout through the wall of his tent was shot after it later returned to the camp, authorities said.
Colton Stewart, 14, woke up early Wednesday to a burning sensation in his upper arm, then realized it was a bear biting his arm through the tent, state wildlife officials said. He pulled away and heard the bear run off through the brush.
The bite wasn’t serious, but camp officials notified the state, which sent a game warden to the Adventure Park Scout Camp in central Utah.
The bear was shot Wednesday evening by a conservation officer after it wandered back into the camp.