■ United States
Nuclear security force touted
The US plans to create a new elite security force, fashioned after the US Army Rangers or Navy Seals, to protect its nuclear weapons and other facilities from terrorist attack, the government has announced. "The hallmark of this force will be advanced tactical skills, intensive training and the highest professional and physical fitness standards," said Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, addressing workers at the Savannah River nuclear weapons site in South Carolina on Friday. He said the force, drawn from desultory units currently guarding nuclear weapons plants and storage sites, could be trained and fully deployed within two years.
■ United States
NY children deal with heights
People in New York City are far more likely than other Americans to live high above the ground, but the city's children are far less likely than those in other places to be hurt in falls from buildings, Columbia University researchers have found. Hospital admissions in 2000 in 27 states were studied. Researchers found that more than 1,000 children were hospitalized as urgent or emergency cases after falling from buildings, a rate of almost 3 per 100,000. But in New York City, the rate was about 1.5 per 100,000.
■ United States
Couple may not conceive
A couple has been ordered not to conceive any more children until the ones they already have are no longer in foster care. The mother was found to have neglected her four children, ages 1, 2, 4 and 5. All three children who were tested for cocaine tested positive, according to court papers. Both parents had a history of drug abuse. A civil liberties advocate said the court ruling unsealed on Friday was "blatantly unconstitutional." Monroe County Family Court Judge Marilyn O'Connor ruled that both parents "should not have yet another child which must be cared for at public expense."
■ United States
Teenager on murder charge
A teenager has been charged with first-degree murder after police say he killed his unborn twin sons by beating his pregnant girlfriend. Gerardo Flores, 18, was arrested on Friday by Lufkin police after his 16-year-old girlfriend delivered twin boys stillborn at home and sought medical attention at an East Texas hospital, an arrest affidavit states. The teen was five months pregnant. According to court documents, Flores admitted he "may have hit her in the face and in the stomach" during a fight in their bedroom. After the fight she started bleeding and he allegedly ordered her to "clean herself up," the documents said. She gave birth to the boys in the bathroom before an ambulance arrived.
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