The News in 2 Minutes

From The Associated Press

Copper company tries to lure 600 workers
PHOENIX—Phelps Dodge needs hundreds of new employees for work in its Southeastern Arizona copper mines and mills, and it is sweetening the pot to get them to come on board.

The copper mining giant, now part of Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc., needs to hire 600 workers for its mines in Safford and Morenci but has exhausted the labor pool in Greenlee and Graham counties, spokesman Ken Vaughn said. The shortage of workers is made worse by a housing shortage in the area.

Now the company is trying to recruit workers who live in Tucson, Phoenix and west Texas and is sweetening the pot with flexible schedules, hiring bonuses and free room and board for seven-day on, seven-day off shifts.

“We’ll train them,” Vaughn said, both men and women. “We have women truck drivers, mechanics and electricians. We no longer think of mining as a man’s work.”

Phelps Dodge needs 400 miners for a new mine in Safford set to open next year and 200 for a new copper processing plant it is building in Morenci. The company is facing tough competition for miners because its existing facilities are expanding and it is competing with other companies, such as Tucson-based Asarco LLC, for workers.

Iraqi prime minister criticizes U.S. raid
BAGHDAD—Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki condemned a U.S. raid Saturday in Baghdad’s Shiite Sadr City slum — a politically sensitive district for him — in which American troops searching for Iranian-linked militants sparked a firefight that left 26 Iraqis dead.

The U.S. military said all those killed in the fighting were gunmen, some of them firing from behind civilian cars. But residents said eight civilians were killed in their homes and angrily accused American troops of firing wildly during the pre-dawn assault.

Sadr City is the Iraqi capital’s largest Shiite neighborhood—home to some 2.5 million people—making U.S. raids there potentially embarrassing for al-Maliki’s Shiite-led government. The district is also the stronghold of the Mahdi Army, a militia loyal to anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who was once al-Maliki’s ally.

Also Saturday, the military announced that two American soldiers were charged with the premeditated murder of three Iraqis and with planting weapons on the bodies to cover up the slayings, which took place between April and June near Iskandariyah, 30 miles south of Baghdad.

Staff Sgt. Michael A. Hensley from Candler, N.C., was jailed Thursday in Kuwait, facing three counts each of premeditated murder, obstructing justice and wrongfully placing the weapons. Spc. Jorge G. Sandoval, arrested at his home in Laredo, Texas, faces one count each of premeditated murder and planting a weapon, the military said.

Thousands in Israel protest plea bargain
TEL AVIV, Israel—Thousands of protesters outraged over the plea bargain that spared President Moshe Katsav rape charges and possible jail time gathered in Tel Aviv’s main square Saturday night to demand he stand trial.

On Thursday, Attorney General Meni Mazuz announced that he would indict Katsav on lesser counts of indecent acts, sexual harassment and obstruction of justice — a reversal of his original plan to press rape and other sexual assault charges that could have sent the president to jail for 20 years if he had been convicted.

“There’s no such thing as rape lite,” read one of the posters hoisted by the crowd, which included leading women politicians.

Protest organizers estimated that 20,000 people flocked to Rabin Square in Tel Aviv. Demonstrators who heard over the past year lurid testimony from four former employees demanded a nullification of the plea deal and Mazuz’s resignation.

The Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court will be asked on Sunday to authorize the agreement.

As part of the deal, Katsav resigned on Friday, two weeks before his seven-year term was to expire. The resignation takes effect on Sunday, clearing the way for his immediate indictment.

3 dead in wildfire in eastern Utah
NEOLA, Utah—A fast-moving wildfire burning in eastern Utah overcame two men who were working in a hay field, and a third man died overnight from injuries he sustained in the blaze, authorities said Saturday.

A 63-year-old man and his 43-year-old son were working in the field when they were caught by the fire, said Louis Haynes, a spokesman for the Uintah Basin Interagency Fire Center. Another man who was injured in the fire died overnight, Haynes said.

The fire started north of Neola, about 100 miles east of Salt Lake City. By Saturday afternoon, about 23 square miles, including part of Ashley National Forest in the northeastern corner of the state, had been consumed.

In California, evacuated residents were returning to their burned-out streets Saturday after a separate wildfire near Lake Tahoe destroyed more than 200 homes and charred 3,100 acres. Investigators said the blaze was started by an illegal campfire and was mostly contained. Some firefighters were beginning to withdraw.

Bogus toothpaste found in 6 states, Canada
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Counterfeit Colgate toothpaste has now turned up in Canada, where testing has found dangerous bacteria but not the poisonous chemical previously detected in four states, a health official said Saturday.

In addition, store owners and police say they have discovered that the bogus Colgate was sold in Michigan and Virginia.

The FDA warned earlier in June that fake Colgate distributed in Maryland, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania may contain a poisonous chemical called diethylene glycol, or DEG, that typically is used in antifreeze. That toothpaste was the subject of a June 13 recall by a New Jersey distributor.

It was not immediately clear if the counterfeit products in Pinconning, Mich. and Arlington, Va. had been tested for DEG.

In Canada, testing did not find the chemical but did show high levels of harmful bacteria, said Paul Duchesne, a spokesman for Health Canada.

A Food and Drug Administration spokeswoman said Saturday she was checking into reports of the wider distribution beyond the first four states.

The bacteria pose a significant health risk, especially to children and anyone with a weakened immune system, Health Canada said. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is investigating.