■ UNITED STATES
Disclosure bill passes
An Army school in Georgia that trains Latin American military -- and counts Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega among its alumni -- would be required to disclose the names of its graduates under legislation passed by the House. The Pentagon has concealed the records since 2005. A human-rights group says the secrecy was prompted by revelations in the 1990s that some graduates had later become involved in human-rights abuses and criminal activity in their countries. Pentagon spokesman Jeffrey Gordon responded that releasing the graduates' names could expose them to danger in countries with high levels of political violence. The bill has not yet passed the Senate.
■ BRAZIL
Dutch scientist freed
A judge on Tuesday ordered a prominent Dutch scientist freed from prison while he appeals his conviction for environmental crimes and embezzlement, a court official said. Marc Van Roosmalen was convicted on June 15 of trying to illegally auction off the names of monkey species, keeping monkeys at his house without authorization and selling a scaffolding donated to the National Institute for Amazon Research where he worked. He was sentenced to 15 years and nine months in a prison in the Amazon city of Manaus, where he lived. Roosmalen has claimed in media reports that he was framed by powerful logging and ranching interests that operate in the Amazon.
■ CNANDA
Thief steals car with baby
A car thief in Montreal alerted police of his misdeed after discovering a baby sleeping in the back seat of the vehicle, then fled, authorities said on Tuesday. The mother had left her 14-month-old daughter asleep in the sports utility vehicle (SUV) with its engine running while she stopped to visit her sister on Monday afternoon in the Montreal neighborhood of Outremont, Constable Miguel Alston said. Moments later, a man jumped into the driver's seat and drove off, only to abandon the vehicle a few blocks away and call police from a pay phone, Alston said. Police located the SUV with the little girl still asleep in her seat, he said.
■ UNITED STATES
Seismic shocks foil rescue
Seismic activity "totally shut down" efforts to reach six miners trapped below ground, causing a cave-in that wiped out all the work done in the past day, a mine executive in Utah said on Tuesday. Crews are drilling two holes into the mountain in an effort to communicate with the miners -- provided they are still alive. Little was known about the six miners; only one has been identified. The Mexican Consulate in Salt Lake City said three of the men are Mexican citizens. Unstable conditions below ground thwarted rescuers' efforts to break through to the miners, who have been trapped 457m below the surface for nearly two days, the executive said.
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