The leftist administration of President Daniel Ortega has re-established formal diplomatic relations with North Korea and rejected criticism of the Asian country's nuclear weapons program, the government said on Thursday. Relations between the two countries had been suspended since 1990, when Violeta Barrios de Chamorro defeated Ortega in presidential elections and ended 11 years of rule by Ortega's Sandinista Front. But Ortega returned to office in January, and on Wednesday he revived relations when he received the credentials of North Korean Ambassador Jae Myong-so, the Ministry of Communication said.
■ UNITED STATES
Baby found in freezer
A Pennsylvania woman was charged with abuse of a corpse after police found the remains of a baby in her freezer. Police charged Christine Hutchinson, 22, of Pittsburgh, after interviewing her on Thursday evening, several hours after the remains were found in her apartment. Officers got a tip from someone who knew Hutchinson that there was "possibly a baby that was dead and was in a freezer in an apartment in Bloomfield," a working-class neighborhood several miles east of downtown, Pittsburgh police Commander Thomas Stangrecki said. Detectives found what initially appeared to be a late-term fetus in a brown bag in the freezer, police said.
■ UNITED STATES
Woman fraudster gets jail
A Washington State woman who coached her children to fake mental retardation to collect disability benefits was sentenced to three years in prison on Thursday. Rosie Costello, 46, must also pay nearly US$288,000 in restitution after pleading guilty in the US District Court to conspiracy to defraud the government and Social Security fraud. Last week, a judge sentenced her son, Pete Costello, to 13 months in prison. The scheme was discovered after Pete Costello, now 28, was caught on surveillance video contesting a traffic ticket in a Vancouver, Washington, courtroom.
■ COSTA RICA
Government pans Castro
The government accused Cuba on Thursday of meddling in its internal affairs after Cuban President Fidel Castro criticized free trade agreements between Latin American nations and the US. The Central American nation charged that Cuba was attempting to "mar" a referendum on its free trade deal with the US scheduled for September 23. "The government of the Republic of Costa Rica expresses its concern and unease over a foreign government's interference in the internal affairs of Costa Rica," President Oscar Arias' office said in a statement. "The declarations of the president of Cuba ... represent a serious affront on the residents of a sovereign, democratic, free and independent Costa Rica," the statement said.
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