■UNITED STATES
Bail set for kidnapper
A judge on Monday set bail at US$30 million for a California man accused of kidnapping a girl and holding her captive for 18 years. El Dorado County Superior Court Judge Douglas Phimister cited the serious nature of the charges, injuries to the girl and the fact that Phillip Garrido was on parole at the time of the alleged abduction. Garrido, 58, and his wife, Nancy Garrido, 54, are accused of kidnapping 11-year-old Jaycee Dugard from her home near South Lake Tahoe in 1991 then holding her captive in a backyard jumble of tents and sheds for nearly two decades. Authorities say Phillip Garrido fathered two daughters with Dugard. Nancy Garrido continues to be held without bail.
■CANADA
Man arrested for fraud
A Canadian man was arrested and another was believed to be at large in Honduras after police said they broke up a pyramid scheme that allegedly bilked thousands of investors worldwide out of at least US$100 million between 1999 and last year. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) arrested and laid fraud charges against Milowe Allen Brost, 55, on Sunday after a three-and-a-half-year investigation. Charges have also been laid against another suspect — Gary Allen Sorenson, 66 — who is believed to be out of Canada. The RCMP allege that the pair set up Syndicated Gold Depository SA, which was supposed to lend money to Merendon Mining Corp Ltd, with the promise of a high rate of return and tax advantages to entice investors.
■UNITED STATES
Relics returned to China
Customs officials on Monday turned over to China fossils dating from as early as 100 million years ago that included bones of a saber-toothed cat, a partial skull of a dinosaur called a Psittacosaurus lujiatunesis and eggs of several other dinosaurs. The undocumented relics had been shipped in two loads and were confiscated by customs agents in Chicago, Illinois and Richmond, Virginia, the Homeland Security Department said. A department announcement said the fossils were found during routine inspection of arriving cargoes. Some are suspected of being intentionally brought in in violation of US import laws, the department said.
■UNITED STATES
Ex-Carter secretary dies
Jody Powell, who served as press secretary to former US president Jimmy Carter, died on Monday. He was 65. Powell, who started a Washington public relations firm, Powell Tate, after leaving the White House, died of a heart attack at his home in Maryland, the Washington Post said. Powell served as press secretary to Carter when he was elected governor of Georgia in 1970 and he held the same position throughout Carter’s 1977-1981 term in the White House. President Barack Obama’s press secretary Robert Gibbs said he was “deeply saddened” to learn of Powell’s death.
■MEXICO
Bolivian in hijacking jailed
A court has ordered a Bolivian preacher kept in jail during the investigation into sabotage and kidnapping charges in the hijacking of a jetliner from the resort city of Cancun. The Attorney General’s Office said a federal court issued the order on Monday for Jose Flores. Flores has said he does not regret threatening to detonate a fake bomb aboard an Aeromexico plane last week. He said he was acting on a divine revelation and wanted to warn President Felipe Calderon an earthquake could occur in 2012.
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