Briefs

0 Comments | Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Jun 16, 2008

ENOLA, Pa. (AP) -- Many of the wedding reception guests didn't believe the disc jockey when he announced the hotel was on fire.

Then firefighters interrupted the celebration, and newlyweds Trey and Robyn Kunkel knew it wasn't a joke.

Fire officials said the fire led to the evacuation of more than 400 guests Saturday night from the Radisson Penn Harris Hotel & Convention Center in East Pennsboro.

"We'll never forget this," Robyn Kunkel said.

No injuries were reported. Firefighters said flames were confined to a roof area on the hotel wing of the complex, across a parking lot from the convention center where the reception was held.

Police kill man who beat toddler to death

TURLOCK, Calif. (AP) -- Police killed a 27-year-old man as he kicked, punched and stomped a toddler to death despite other people's attempts to stop him on a dark, country road, authorities said.

Investigators on Sunday were trying to establish the relationship between the man and the child they say he killed Saturday night. The Stanislaus County coroner said the boy appeared to be between 1 and 2 years old based on his size, according to county sheriff's deputy Royjindar Singh.

"It's been a long night of wondering, 'Why?' -- not only for the officers and the passers-by who stopped and tried to help out, but for anyone. Why would somebody do this?" Singh said.

Singh said the coroner did not plan to confirm the identities of the man and victim until today.

U.S., South Korea break off beef-shipment talks

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The top U.S. and South Korean trade envoys have broken off talks without resolving a crisis over the resumption of American beef shipments that has paralyzed South Korea's pro- U.S. government.

U.S. Trade Representative spokeswoman Gretchen Hamel said Sunday in Washington that South Korean Trade Minister Kim Jong-hoon is returning to his country. But she says officials will remain in contact. She says the two sides held "frank and candid discussions" Friday and Saturday, but that both sides need more time to look into technical issues.

N.Y. apartment building catches fire, killing 3

NEW YORK (AP) -- A suspicious fire tore through a three-story building Sunday, killing three people and sending victims whose clothes and hair were ablaze leaping from windows, authorities said.

The fire was reported Sunday morning in a Queens building that has a delicatessen on the ground floor and apartments on the second and third floors, firefighters said.

At least 11 people, including six firefighters, were injured. Some scampered into the deli, where the owner doused them with jugs of water from his shelves.

Satellite-radio merger approval recommended

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission is recommending approval of the $5 billion merger between the nation's two satellite radio broadcasters in exchange for concessions that include turning over 24 channels to noncommercial and minority programming, The Associated Press has learned.

That condition -- along with others, including a three-year price freeze for consumers -- convinced FCC Chairman Kevin Martin on Sunday to recommend approval for Sirius Satellite Radio Inc.'s buyout of rival XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. The deal affects millions of subscribers who pay to hear music, news, sports and talk programming, largely free from advertising, in homes and vehicles.

Martin's recommendation sets the stage for a final vote on the closely watched merger, which could occur any time after his recommendation is circulated among his fellow commissioners.

Indiana, N.M. were not source of salmonella

WASHINGTON (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration added New Mexico, Indiana and one Mexican state to its list of places that are cleared of being the source of an outbreak of salmonella from contaminated tomatoes that has sickened 228 people since April.

The FDA has now cleared 37 states, Puerto Rico and parts of Florida as the source of the outbreak, according to the Web site of the agency, based near Washington, D.C. Six countries, including Israel and Guatemala, have been cleared.

The state of Baja California was the first area in Mexico to be certified safe, according to the Web site.