World/U.S. in Brief: News across the globe

OUSTED HONDURAN PRESIDENT NOT GIVING UP

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — Already volatile Honduras slid toward greater instability after soldiers blocked an airport runway to keep ousted President Manuel Zelaya from returning, and protests that had remained largely peaceful yielded their first death.

Police and soldiers blanketed the streets of the capital overnight Monday — enforcing a sunset-to-sunrise curfew with batons and metal poles.

The extended curfew added to the tension after a turbulent Sunday that saw soldiers clash with thousands of Zelaya backers who massed at the airport in hopes of welcoming home their deposed leader.

Zelaya’s plane, on loan from Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, arrived to find the runway blocked by military vehicles and soldiers under the command of the government that has ruled this Central American country since Zelaya’s ouster last weekend.

His Venezuelan pilots circled around the airport and decided not to risk a crash.

HIGH STAKES FOR OBAMA IN RUSSIA

MOSCOW (AP) — President Barack Obama opened his first Moscow summit on Monday, a series of meetings sure to test his diplomatic skills like no other but already set to deliver some tangible progress on nuclear arsenal reductions and help for the fight in Afghanistan.

Obama’s distinctive Air Force One jetliner touched down with drizzly gray skies blanketing Moscow. He proceeded down a formal reception line on the airport tarmac, introducting his wife, Michelle, and their two daughters to the Russian officials waiting to greet them.

The entourage then headed directly to the Kremlin, where Obama is laying a wreath at Russia’s Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and sitting down for hours of meetings with President Dmitry Medvedev. As they drove, the clouds opened above the center of the city and brilliant sun shined through.

The full-scale, two-day U.S.-Russia summit is the first of its kind since the early part of the George W. Bush presidency. It presents a test for Obama, with Russia home to a wary public, a two-headed leadership and lingering hard feelings. What much of the world will watch are signs of Obama’s relationship with Russia’s two leaders, Medvedev and his mentor, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

The foundation set now could affect how much cooperation Obama gets in areas in which the U.S. needs help from Russia — chiefly pressuring Iran and North Korea to give up their nuclear weapons ambitions, but also in tackling terrorism, global warming and the economy.

CHINA: 140 DIE, 828 HURT IN ETHNIC RIOTS

URUMQI, China (AP) — Violent street battles killed at least 140 people and injured 828 others in the deadliest ethnic unrest to hit China’s volatile western Xinjiang region in decades, and officials said Monday the death toll was expected to rise.

Security forces have clamped down on the city of Urumqi and set up checkpoints to catch any fleeing rioters, state media reported, after tensions between ethnic Muslim Uighur people and China’s Han majority erupted into riots.

Rioters on Sunday overturned barricades, attacking vehicles and houses, and clashed violently with police, according to media and witness accounts. State television aired footage showing protesters attacking and kicking people on the ground. Other people, who appeared to be Han Chinese, sat dazed with blood pouring down their faces.

There was little immediate explanation for how so many people died. The government blamed Uighur exiles for stoking the unrest. Exile groups said the violence started only after police began violently cracking down on a peaceful protest.

About 1,000 to 3,000 people had gathered Sunday in the regional capital for the protest that apparently span out of control. Accounts differed over what happened, but the violence seemed to have started when the crowd of protesters refused to disperse.

JACKSON’S FAMILY WANTS DELAY IN NAMING OF EXECUTORS

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Michael Jackson’s family wants a judge to delay a hearing Monday to designate two men listed in the pop superstar’s will as temporary administrators of his estate so that they can look deeper into his affairs, a person close to the family said.

The family also wants the additional time to wait and see if another will emerges, as well as to accommodate Jackson’s memorial service Tuesday, said the person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to speak publicly.

The person said Sunday that the family wants the delay in naming two men, attorney John Branca and music executive John McClain, who are designated in a five-page will filed Wednesday as administrators to shepherd Jackson’s estate into a private trust.

Jackson’s mother, Katherine Jackson, was granted some limited powers over the singer’s estate days after his death. But because Branca and McClain are named as executors in the 2002 will, it’s expected that they would be granted more authority to oversee Jackson’s estate, estimated in court filings as being worth more than $500 million, in Monday’s scheduled hearing.

Jackson’s mother and those close to her want “time to further investigate the circumstances and individuals that were surrounding Michael Jackson during his final days,” the person close to the family said.

GM PLAN TO SELL ASSETS APPROVED

NEW YORK (AP) — A bankruptcy judge has ruled that General Motors Corp. can sell the bulk of its assets to a new company, potentially clearing the way for the automaker to quickly emerge from bankruptcy protection.

U.S. Judge Robert Gerber said in his 95-page ruling late Sunday that the sale was in the best interests of both GM and its creditors, whom he said would otherwise get nothing.

“As nobody can seriously dispute, the only alternative to an immediate sale is liquidation — a disastrous result for GM’s creditors, its employees, the suppliers who depend on GM for their own existence, and the communities in which GM operates,” Gerber wrote in his ruling.

The ruling comes after a three-day hearing that wrapped up Thursday, during which GM and government officials urged a quick approval of the sale, saying it was needed to keep the automaker from selling itself off piece by piece.

“This has been an especially challenging period, and we’ve had to make very difficult decisions to address some of the issues that have plagued our business for decades,” GM President and CEO Fritz Henderson said in a statement early Monday. “Now it’s our responsibility to fix this business and place the company on a clear path to success without delay.”

ALASKA OBSERVERS: PALIN’S HEART NOT IN JOB

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — As surprised fans and critics of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin traded guesses behind her decision to resign more than a year before her term ends, the former vice presidential candidate offered few hints at her political future, except to say she’d gone fishing.

Palin has stayed out of the public eye since she made the announcement Friday, but said in a Twitter update Sunday she was looking forward to joining her family as they commercially fish in Bristol Bay. But to many Alaskans, Palin has been off the job for awhile already, acting as a disengaged presence around the state Capitol since she returned from the presidential campaign trail last year.

“She had a surprising amount of disinterest in state government after November,” said state Rep. Les Gara, D-Anchorage. “This state has a lot of problems, and she showed a complete lack of interest in solving them.”

In Alaska, Palin has become a polarizing figure and the focus of multiple ethics complaints filed against her with the state personnel board. She has taken a beating from Senate Democrats over many of her recent appointments, including an attorney general candidate who became the first Cabinet appointment ever rejected by the Alaska Legislature.

But with all the thorny issues enveloping her in Alaska, Palin’s quitting may be more about something simpler: cutting her losses.

FATAL DISNEY WORLD CRASH INVESTIGATED

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — Officials at Walt Disney World Resort were investigating what caused the first fatal accident in the 38-year history of the park’s Monorail, a one-time symbol of founder Walt Disney’s vision for future transportation.

Two of the monorail’s trains collided early Sunday in the park’s Magic Kingdom section, killing one of the train’s operators, emergency officials said.

At least five guests were treated at the scene for minor injuries, authorities said, while the other train’s operator was not injured.

The transit system, which shuttles thousands of visitors around the sprawling resort each day, was shut down while authorities investigated.

Disney’s senior spokesman Michael Griffin identified the driver as 21-year-old Austin Wuennenberg. Griffin would not discuss how long Wuennenberg had been with Disney or the circumstances surrounding the crash. Disney officials also declined to discuss how the monorail system operates.

“They are extremely rare,” Griffin said of accidents at the park. “The safety of our guests and cast are a top priority above all else.”

A spokeswoman for Stetson University in nearby DeLand confirmed that Wuennenberg was a student at the school. A woman standing in front of Wuennenberg’s home in Kissimmee declined to comment Sunday afternoon and directed questions to Disney officials, saying the family wanted “private time to grieve.”

FIREWORKS BLASTS KILL 5

OCRACOKE, N.C. (AP) — Five people working on Independence Day fireworks shows were killed by explosions, four of them by a single blast that rocked this remote village on the Outer Banks.

The fifth died after an explosion at a fireworks show in Pennsylvania, police said.

In another holiday accident, a pedestrian bridge collapsed in Indiana as fans were leaving a fireworks show, injuring 25 people. Authorities said Sunday the crowd had overloaded the bridge.

The blast at Ocracoke came as workers were unloading fireworks Saturday from a truck at the Anchorage Marina, shaking homes and businesses across the southern end of Ocracoke Island and rattling residents and tourists.

Earl Woodham, a spokesman for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said agents determined the cause was accidental. ATF will not investigate further, but a workplace safety agency such as the state Labor Department likely will try to find the specific cause, he said.