Santorum sweeps Colo., Minn., Mo. in upset
DENVER, Feb. 8 (UPI) -- Republican White House hopeful Rick Santorum swept the Colorado and Minnesota caucuses and won the non-binding Missouri primary, officials said early Wednesday.
Unofficial vote counts gave the former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania slightly more than 40 percent in Colorado, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney 35 percent, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich 13 percent and Rep. Ron Paul of Texas about 12 percent.
Santorum handily won Minnesota with about 45 percent of the vote, compared with 27 percent for Paul, 17 percent for Romney and 11 percent for Newt Gingrich, unofficial results indicated.
In Missouri's non-binding primary, Santorum had 55 percent of the vote, followed by Romney at 25 percent and 12 percent for Paul. Gingrich didn't make the ballot in Missouri.
The primary offered bragging rights but no delegates. Missouri delegates to August's Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., will be determined in state caucuses March 17.
Santorum's triple-play victories marked a sharp turnaround for the candidate, who failed until now to capitalize on his narrow win in the Iowa caucuses Jan. 3 -- a victory awarded only after the fact.
Teetering Greece says debt deal pending
ATHENS, Greece, Feb. 8 (UPI) -- Greece struggled to retain credibility after missing a third debt-deal deadline but vowed an accord was near amid a European concession to cut Greece's debt.
An agreement on a "final draft document" of new draconian austerity measures on top of earlier ones would "almost certainly" be finalized Wednesday when technocrat Prime Minister Lucas Papademos and the three party leaders of Greece's national unity government meet, officials said.
They had promised to clinch the deal Tuesday but didn't even get together.
"There are outstanding technical issues, but when they meet [Wednesday] we can expect the politicians to accept it," a key official told the British newspaper The Guardian after Tuesday's talks were postponed.
"Part of the reason why the discussion is also taking longer is that the leaders have to come to terms with what they have to accept."
Athens must accept European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund demands for immediate, bitingly deep spending cuts and labor reforms for Greece to qualify for a needed $170 billion rescue package if it is to avoid default on a $19 billion bond repayment it otherwise can't pay March 20.
Britain rules out talks on Falklands
LONDON, Feb. 8 (UPI) -- Britain dismissed talks with Argentina on the Falkland Islands Wednesday after the Argentinean leader said she would file a complaint with the United Nations.
Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner said her government would complain formally to the U.N. Security Council about British "militarization" of the dispute, which erupted into a 10-week war in 1982 over rival claims of sovereignty, The New York Times reported.
A British Foreign Office spokesman said in a statement: "The people of the Falkland Islands are British out of choice. They are free to determine their own future and there will be no negotiations with Argentina on sovereignty unless the islanders wish it."
Fernandez's accusations Tuesday came after Britian's Prince William arrived on the islands last week as an air force search-and-rescue helicopter pilot deployed in his first overseas military tour.
Britain also announced it would dispatch one of its most advanced destroyers to the islands, in what Argentina has taken as a display of military force on the eve of the 30th anniversary of the Argentine invasion that led to the war, the Times said.
Rats spreading deadly virus in Chile
SANTIAGO, Chile, Feb. 8 (UPI) -- Chile's health minister said rats displaced by wildfires in the Biobio region are spreading the life-threatening hantavirus to humans.
Chilean Health Minister Jaime Manalich said at least three people have died from the flu-like virus and another eight are thought to be infected with it, The Santiago Times reported.
Two of the deaths and eight separate infections have been linked to a prison in Conception. The third death was a man camping in the area.
Wildfires that were rampant in early January destroyed as much as 50,000 acres in southern Chile, causing the exodus of rodents to more inhabited areas.
Hantavirus is spread through the urine, feces and saliva of rats, especially deer mice. Humans can acquire it through direct contact or inhaling air contaminated with dust from the waste matter of infected animals.
Once the virus hits the lungs, there is less than a 50 percent chance of survival, the U.S. National Institutes of Health said.
Texas boy survives mountain lion attack
ALPINE, Texas, Feb. 8 (UPI) -- A 6-year-old Texas boy is recovering after being attacked by a mountain lion while walking with his family in Big Bend National Park, officials say.
Park officials said River Hobbs of Leander suffered non-life-threatening scrapes and puncture wounds to his face in the Sunday attack, the Houston Chronicle reported. He was treated and released from an Alpine hospital.
The boy told Odessa's KOSA-TV the big cat "snuck up on me."
His father Jason told the TV station the family was on a sidewalk between a restaurant and hotel when the mountain lion struck.
"It had a hold of his face ... . the cat was clamped on his face," the father said. "I reached down and got my knife out and stabbed the cat in the chest and it let go at that point.
"Were lucky he's walking away with scars and it didn't get him by the neck."
The Chronicle said the park service closed several trails and brought in dog teams to track down the big cat but had no luck finding it. Live traps were also set.
