Albuquerque ranked third in alcohol-related deaths:
ALBUQUERQUE (AP) - Albuquerque ranks near the top of a list of cities with high numbers of alcohol-related traffic fatalities, according to a study released Monday.
A researcher for RAND Corporation in Washington, D.C., conducted a study of alcohol-related traffic deaths in 97 cities across 38 states. The study, which documents the cities from 1995 through 1997, was published in the February issue of Preventive Magazine.
Albuquerque ranked third-highest in alcohol-related traffic deaths per 100,000 population - only topped by Dallas and Kansas City, Mo., according to the study.
"It's not surprising to hear that Albuquerque would have one of the worst problems," said Steven Flint, a volunteer for New Mexico's DWI Resource Center and former head of the state Traffic Safety Division. "New Mexico has a history of problems that seem related to a broad availability of alcohol and a cultural tendency toward alcohol abuse."
The study showed Albuquerque had an average of 8.62 alcohol-related traffic fatalities per 100,000 people.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
-------
President Bush urges India, Pakistan to push for peace:
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush telephoned Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf on Sunday to urge them to continue peace efforts as U.S. hopes for an easing of tensions in South Asia rose.
A nationally televised address by Musharraf pledging to crack down on Islamic extremists puts the Pakistani leader squarely against terrorism and extremism in the adminstration's view.
Secretary of State Colin Powell will test out that judgment in a trip to India and Pakistan beginning on Tuesday. The threat of conflict between the two nations is one of Bush's toughest foreign policy problems.
-------
Inspection of all checked bags begins next weekend:
WASHINGTON (AP) - Lengthy lines at airport security checkpoints are almost certain to get longer next weekend when airlines are required by law to inspect all checked baggage for explosives.
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas, the top Republican on the Senate aviation subcommittee, said passengers should be ready for more delays when airlines begin inspecting checked bags.
"This is going to cause a backup at many airports," Hutchison said Sunday on CNN's "Late Edition." "People are going to have even longer waits than we are used to now."
The new aviation security law, passed in response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, requires airlines by Friday to have systems in place to inspect all checked bags for explosives.
This could include sending the bags through explosive detection machines, having them inspected by hand or bomb-sniffing dogs, or making sure that no bag is loaded on a plane unless the passenger also boards.
"We are trying to screen, in some way, every bag that goes on an airplane," Hutchison said. "The major vulnerability we have today is checked baggage."
Federal Aviation Administration spokesperson William Shumann said the agency plans to enforce the law. He said FAA special agents at airports will check to see if the bags are being inspected for explosives.
-------
Sudanese government, rebels focus on cease-fire:
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) - U.S. and Swiss-mediated talks between the Sudanese government and southern rebels next week will concentrate only on a regional cease-fire and not a comprehensive peace, a rebel spokesperson said Sunday.
Samson Kwaje, spokesperson for the Sudanese People's Liberation Army, tried to downplay the significance of the negotiations, set to begin sometime later this week in a yet to be disclosed location in Switzerland.
"These are technical committees and they will only be discussing a cease-fire in the Nuba Mountains," he said. "These are not peace talks; they will only be talking about that cease-fire."
Washington is trying to help end Sudan's 18-year civil war, the longest-running in Africa. More than 2 million people are estimated to have died in fighting and related famines.
The Sudan People's Liberation Army draws support from southern Sudan, where the animist and Christian population resents rule by the Muslim-dominated north. The rebels are seeking autonomy, and possible independence, for the south.
The United States has provided about $1.2 billion in humanitarian aid to southern Sudan since 1989.
