State
High school freshman dies of alcohol poisoning
ALBUQUERQUE (AP) - Authorities were looking at possible charges against a man they believe supplied alcohol to a group of teen-age girls - one of whom later died.The results of toxicology tests on the body of Felisha Holguin, 14, were not finished Monday, said Tim Stepetic, a spokesman for the state Office of the Medical Investigator.The Rio Grande High School freshman was declared dead Saturday morning at St. Joseph Hospital after she attended a slumber party at the home of another girl's aunt.The other girls at the party admitted drinking alcohol Friday night, Albuquerque police spokeswoman Beth Baland said.
"They were able to convince a neighbor . to buy the alcohol for them illegally," Baland said.
Police detectives are working with the Bernalillo County district attorney's office about possible charges against the man, she said.
It is a misdemeanor to supply alcohol to minors.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
"You could also potentially be held responsible for what happened to that child," Baland said.
Barry Case, youth pastor at Victory Love Fellowship Church where Holguin participated in youth ministry outreach programs, said: "This whole situation has come as a shock to us all. The last person in the world that we would expect this to happen to would be Felisha."
......
National
Army changes training after Green Beret's death
FORT BRAGG, N.C. (AP) - Army officials said Tuesday they have adopted new procedures in Green Beret training in the wake of a training accident in which a soldier was shot to death by a deputy who was unaware of the drill.
Among other changes, soldiers will no longer wear civilian clothes during role-playing exercises outside Fort Bragg and no role-playing will involve civilian law enforcement agencies, said Col. Charles King, commander of the 1st Special Warfare Training Group, Airborne.
Military officials said the shooting Saturday resulted from a breakdown in communications. Deputy Sheriff Randall Butler, who was unaware of the off-base exercise, stopped a pickup carrying two soldiers who were wearing civilian clothes and carrying a duffel bag containing a disassembled rifle.
The soldiers apparently thought the deputy was part of their role-playing exercise and tried to disarm him, officials said. Butler will not be charged.
"We are confident we can adjust our procedures to preclude this from ever happening again," King said.
The Special Forces also will conduct an internal investigation to determine what can be done to prevent such accidents, King said. The training cannot be conducted entirely on Fort Bragg because Special Forces need the realism of training with civilians, he said.
Training will continue in the current Robin Sage exercise, the final step in the qualification course for soldiers seeking the coveted Green Beret. Robin Sage is run four times a year in central North Carolina. The current exercise ends Sunday.
Special Forces in many countries, including Afghanistan, have reaffirmed the need for this type of training, King said.
In Saturday's incident, 1st Lt. Tallas Tomeny was killed and Sgt. Stephen Phelps was wounded. Phelps was in fair condition Tuesday at FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital in Pinehurst, Army officials said.
The exercise, known as "Robin Sage," has been conducted since the 1950s in North Carolina. It is designed to test skills in survival, tactics and dealing with people, as well as judgment, decision-making and ethics.
Low temperatures could hurt NASA shuttle launch
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) - NASA grew increasingly worried Tuesday about the unusually low temperatures predicted for this week's launch of a space shuttle on a service call to the Hubble Space Telescope.
Shuttle weather officer Ed Priselac said there is a 40 percent chance the cold could thwart Thursday's launch attempt. He expects a temperature of 39 degrees at sunrise, when NASA will be trying to launch Columbia.
Priselac said high winds would help mix cold and warm air around the fueled shuttle and help prevent damage to its systems from the cold. Higher humidity is also desirable.
NASA has been mindful of the effects of cold weather on a shuttle launch ever since the 1986 Challenger disaster.
The temperature was 36 degrees the January morning Challenger lifted off, but had been well below freezing during the night. The cold caused O-ring seals to fail in the right solid-fuel booster rocket and hot gases to leak from that joint. The doomed flight lasted just 73 seconds.
The redesigned booster rockets now have heaters on their joints to prevent the rubbery O-rings from deteriorating in cold weather. But low temperatures could still increase the likelihood of ice forming on the external fuel tank and pose a hazard at liftoff, said NASA test director Steve Altemus.
Shuttle managers, meanwhile, concluded Tuesday that there is no reason for concern about bolts in hydraulic pumps that were mistakenly lubricated.
However, a last-minute report indicated that the wheel bearings in Columbia's main landing gear might not have been tested properly, said shuttle program manager Ron Dittemore. He cautioned that it was too early to know whether the report was valid.
During the 11-day flight, Columbia's crew will install $172 million worth of new equipment on Hubble, including an advanced camera and solar wings. It's the first shuttle mission in two years that has nothing to do with the international space station.
......
International
Gunmen escape after executing 10 Muslims
RAWALPINDI, Pakistan (AP) - Gunmen opened fire on minority Shiite Muslims praying in a mosque near Pakistan's capital Tuesday, taking aim at the wounded in a final round of bullets. Ten people were killed.
At least nine other worshippers were wounded at Shah Najaf mosque in Rawalpindi, outside Islamabad.
Two men with assault rifles walked into the tiny neighborhood mosque as Shiite Muslims were gathered for evening prayers, survivors, witnesses and police said. A third assailant stood guard outside the mosque.
"Prayers had just started, and they started spraying fire from the back of a mosque," said worshipper Jamshaid Aziz, 25.
After a first burst of fire, the gunmen paused, then, opened fire on the wounded, Aziz said.
The killers had driven up to the mosque on a motorcycle and escaped after what witnesses said was two minutes of carnage - leaving bodies, Quran holy books, prayer caps and prayer beads strewn on the mosque carpets.
Four victims died on the spot and six others in hospitals, said a police inspector, Omar Hayat.
Authorities set up roadblocks across the area to try to catch the gunmen, Interior Ministry officials said.
Fearful Shiite Muslims gathered by the dozens outside the mosque after the killings.
Syed Saftar's 16-year-old son, a student studying for exams to enter the 10th grade, had been among those at prayer. "We heard there was a shooting, so we went to the hospital and I asked 'Where's my son?' And the doctors told me he was dead," Saftar said.
"These were our friends, our neighbors, like our brothers," said another man, Zahidi Hussain Shah.
The attack came days after President Gen. Pervez Musharraf promised to crack down on Islamic militants - including those responsible for rising sectarian violence.
"Groups opposed to the government's policy of fighting against terrorism are out to block it from pursuing it vigorously," Pakistan's state-run news agency quoted Musharraf as saying after Tuesday's attack.
Musharraf said such killings only strengthened the government's resolve, and he promised to punish those responsible, the news agency said.
Religious violence claims hundreds of lives each year in Pakistan, where small but heavily armed Shiite and Sunni Muslim extremist groups target one another's followers. Much of the violence takes place in the port city of Karachi.
Musharraf banned five of the extremist groups last month, including those blamed for most of the attacks.
Religious violence has been on the increase since then.
Last week, gunmen shot and killed five Shiite Muslims as they slept in their home in a remote village of eastern Punjab province.
Pakistan has enacted a tough anti-terrorism law amid the surge of religious and politically motivated killings. Under the new law, people who support or aid terrorists face tougher sentences, including death.
In January, authorities arrested more than 1,000 members of hard-line Islamic groups. Dozens were recently freed, for reasons the government has not disclosed.
