Advertisement

UPI NewsTrack TopNews

Missing mom's 2 kids, husband die in blast

GRAHAM, Wash., Feb. 5 (UPI) -- An explosion and fire in a house in Graham, Wash., Sunday apparently killed the husband and two children of missing Utah mom Susan Powell, authorities said.

Advertisement

Authorities told the Los Angeles Times the conflagration occurred shortly after a social worker dropped off Josh Powell's sons, Charlie, 7, and Braden, 5, at the home for a scheduled supervised visit.

Graham Fire and Rescue officials said the social worker called her supervisors to report she could smell gas when the explosion happened, the newspaper said.

"She moved away from the house, a very smart move on her part, and moments to minutes later, the house exploded," Graham Fire and Rescue spokesman Gary Franz told the Times.

Franz said "credible reports" from witnesses suggested the Powell children were inside the house. Fire officials found the bodies of an adult and two children, assumed to be Powell and his sons, Franz said.

Advertisement

"Everything points to Josh Powell and his two sons," he said.

Authorities had long considered Powell a person of interest in the disappearance of his wife, who hasn't been seen since she vanished from the family's home in West Valley City, Utah, in December 2009 while he and the two boys were on a camping outing during a snow storm.

Powell moved to Washington state with the boys but Susan Powell's parents won custody of the children after thousands of sexually explicit pictures and videos of women and young girls were discovered on the computer of Josh Powell's father, Steven Powell.

A judge last week ruled Josh Powell would have to undergo a psychosexual evaluation as part of his bid to regain custody.


Book: JFK took intern's virginity

NEW YORK, Feb. 5 (UPI) -- A 69-year-old woman claims President John F. Kennedy took her virginity in the White House 50 years ago when she was an intern, the New York Post reports.

Mimi Alford, a retired New York City church administrator, writes in her book, "Once Upon a Secret: My Affair with President John F. Kennedy and Its Aftermath," that she went on to have an 18-month affair with Kennedy, always calling him "Mr. President," the Post said Sunday.

Advertisement

The book isn't supposed to be available until Wednesday but the Post said it bought a copy at a Manhattan bookstore.

The newspaper said Alford writes that she was just four days into her internship in the White House press office when she was invited by an aide to go for a swim in the White House pool. She says the president got into the pool and talked to her briefly. Later in the day, presidential friend Dave Powers allegedly invited her to an after-work party at the White House residence.

She said she drank several daiquiris and Kennedy later invited her for a personal tour that culminated with the two having sex in a bedroom used by first lady Jackie Kennedy.

"After he finished, he hitched up his pants and smiled at me," she wrote, adding afterward she was "in shock."

"He, on the other hand, was matter-of-fact, and acted as if what had just occurred was the most natural thing in the world."

Alford says she later pondered whether she could have resisted Kennedy's advances.

"The fact that I was being desired by the most famous and powerful man in America only amplified my feelings to the point where resistance was out of the question," she wrote. "That's why I didn't say no to the president. It's the best answer I can give."

Advertisement


Niinisto wins Finland presidency

HELSINKI, Finland, Feb. 5 (UPI) -- Voters in Finland Sunday sent Sauli Niinisto to a resounding victory over Pekka Haavisto, making him the country's 12th president, election results showed.

With all votes counted, the 63-year-old Niinisto, a former parliamentary speaker and finance minister, had garnered 62.6 percent of the vote to 37.4 percent for Haavisto, the Green Party candidate, Helsingin Sanomat reported.

Niinisto is the first non-Social Democrat to win in Finland since 1982 and the first member of his National Coalition Party to win since 1956.

Turnout for the election was about 69 percent, the lowest in a presidential race since 1950, the newspaper said.

Niinisto will replace President Tarja Halonen, who was constitutionally limited to two terms, CNN reported.

While she was Finland's first female president, this race for the first time pitted an openly gay candidate, Haavisto, against a conservative, Niinisto, who ushered Finland into the European Union and use of the euro.

Niinisto, who also served as deputy chairman of the European Investment Bank, had won the preliminary round Jan. 28 with almost 37 percent of the vote. Haavisto, 53, got 18.8 percent.

Haavisto's openness about being gay figured prominently in national media in the final weeks of the campaign, CNN said. His political history includes a stint as environment and development minister.

Advertisement

Both candidates for the largely ceremonial presidency favor maintaining membership in the European Union, the U.S. network said.


Toronto avoids city workers strike

TORONTO, Feb. 5 (UPI) -- City and union negotiators Sunday reached a tentative contract agreement averting a strike by 6,000 Toronto municipal workers, the two sides announced.

The deal was reached after a 12:01 a.m. deadline was extended, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported.

Mark Ferguson, president of Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 416, called the talks "one of the toughest labor negotiations in Canadian history."

He said the union "had to give in a number of areas," though specifics had not been revealed.

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford said the outcome, however, means an "absolutely fantastic day for the taxpayers of this great city."

"I think the taxpayers are the winners here," Ford said. "We worked well with the union team, and I want to thank the union for working with us, and I want to thank our team for helping the taxpayers of this great city."

Terms of the tentative pact were not immediately disclosed and the negotiators are to be back at it Monday morning to finalize it.

The CBC said the city's pre-deadline offer was for lump-sum pay increases each year of a four-year contract, along with changes in job security provisions, scheduling rules and other areas. The union had offered to take a three-year wage freeze.

Advertisement

Latest Headlines