WORLD
SHAHJOI, Afghanistan – A U.S. helicopter suffered a “sudden, unexplained loss of power” and crashed Sunday in southeastern Afghanistan, killing eight American troops, the military said. Fourteen people on board survived.
A NATO spokesman denied the helicopter had been shot down, saying the pilot had radioed ahead to report engine problems. It was the worst U.S. crash in Afghanistan since last May.
The CH-47 Chinook helicopter was carrying 22 U.S. service members under overcast skies when there was a “sudden, unexplained loss of power and control” and it crashed, U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. David Accetta said. The 14 survivors suffered injuries.
The helicopter crashed in the Shahjoi district of Zabul province, about 50 yards from the main highway between Kabul and Kandahar, and appeared to be destroyed and scattered in several pieces.
“It was not enemy fire related,” Col. Tom Collins, spokesman for NATO’s International Security Assistance Force, said earlier. “The pilot was able to radio in that he was having engine problems. We’re confident it was not due to enemy action.”
Zabul provincial governor Dilber Jan Arman said it was possible that the “helicopter crash was due to bad weather.” There were no immediate claims of responsibility for the crash.
NATION
DANIA BEACH, Fla. – The body of starlet Anna Nicole Smith was embalmed Saturday, under a court order issued a day earlier.
Two embalmers finished the job around noon, according to Joshua Perper, the Broward County medical examiner. They promised not to discuss, write about, photograph or draw the body.
“They did an excellent job, and the body will be ready for viewing with no problem,” Perper said. “In other words, she’s basically looking like she looked in life or very, very close to that.”
Attorneys for photographer Larry Birkhead, who claims he’s the father of Smith’s baby girl, fought to delay the embalming until an additional DNA sample was taken from her body Thursday. The body remains at the medical examiner’s facility, awaiting developments in a Fort Lauderdale courthouse, where Smith’s estranged mother Virgie Arthur and her companion Howard K. Stern, resume their battle Tuesday over where the Playboy model should be buried.
Arthur wants Smith brought to her home state of Texas. Stern wants to put her in a plot in the Bahamas next to her son.
STATE & LOCAL
NORFOLK – Stung by financial scandals, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Richmond has distributed tamper-proof moneybags to Blessed Sacrament and other parishes throughout the sprawling diocese to ensure donations go where they are intended.
The security measure follows accusations that a retired priest in central Virginia embezzled more than $600,000 from two parishes and the arrest of a church secretary in Richmond shown on video allegedly slipping Sunday offerings into her purse.
John Barrett, the diocesan finance director, said he recommended the safeguards for all parishes following those two incidents. He wants every parish in the diocese to hold money collected during Mass in the tamper-proof bags until the money can be counted and recorded.
The counting, Barrett said, should be done by teams that include at least two unrelated people. Then, after the money is banked, a bookkeeper should compare the deposit slip with the total tallied by the counters, he said.
“It’s just another safeguard to protect against someone putting their hand in the collection,” Barrett said. The checks and balances may also protect volunteers who handle parish money from false accusations of theft, he said.
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