Alps slayings may be 'family drama'
ANNECY, France, Sept. 7 (UPI) -- A prosecutor said Friday a dispute between two brothers was being investigated as a reason three members of a British family were shot dead in the French Alps.
A cyclist who apparently witnessed the slayings also was killed. The slain couple's two young daughters survived after apparently being left for dead.
Eric Mailland, the prosecutor in Annecy, said suspicion that the deaths may focus on a "family drama" over money was based on "credible information coming from the British police," The Daily Telegraph reported
"We have had information about the brother from British police sources ... there apparently is a conflict about money between himself and his brother," Mailland said.
"That brother in the U.K. spontaneously went to the police authorities and said, 'I have no conflict, no feud with my brother, no disagreement.' What's going to be very important will be to listen to this brother."
The brother, Zaid al-Hilli went to a police station in Surrey Friday to say there was no feud between him and his brother Saad, the British newspaper said.
Saad al-Hilli, 50, his wife Iqbal, 47, and his 77-year-old mother-in-law were found dead in their car Wednesday near Chevaline in Haute-Savoie. Each had been shot twice in the head, leading French investigators to believe the gunman was a professional hit man.
A French cyclist, Sylvain Mollier, 45, was shot five times, police said. Police said they believed the slain cyclist was "in the wrong place at the wrong time."
Leslie forecast to miss Bermuda
HAMILTON, Bermuda, Sept. 7 (UPI) -- Tropical Storm Leslie resumed its northerly trek across the Atlantic Ocean Friday evening, with U.S. forecasters predicting Bermuda would escape a direct hit.
Leslie, which was demoted from a Category 1 during the morning, sported maximum sustained winds near 65 mph, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said in its 8 p.m. EDT advisory. The storm was centered about 360 miles south-southeast of Bermuda and was churning northward at 5 mph.
Leslie was forecast to gradually pick up forward speed during the next two days and pass to the east of Bermuda Sunday, the hurricane center said. Forecasters did not say how close they expect it to come to the British territory, where a tropical storm watch was in effect.
Tropical storm winds extended out 185 miles from the storm's center. Forecasters said the storm could regain hurricane strength during the weekend.
Public schools in Bermuda were closed Friday and government buildings were to close early, CNN reported.
Earlier this week, Bermuda's Emergency Measures Organization had warned Leslie could be a "historic storm."
Officials in Newfoundland were preparing for the possibility Leslie could hit Wednesday, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. said. Hurricane Igor caused extensive flooding and knocked out power for days in September 2010.
Forecasters said Leslie's predicted track could change in the next five days, with the storm remaining out to sea and bypassing Newfoundland, but hurricane center forecasters said residents should not bet on that.
Judge rules in Schwarzenegger's favor
SAN DIEGO, Sept. 7 (UPI) -- Arnold Schwarzenegger acted legally when, as governor of California, he reduced the prison sentence of a political friend's son, a judge ruled Friday.
Shortly before leaving office in January 2011, Schwarzenegger cut by more than half the 16-year prison term Esteban Nunez was given for his role in a fatal brawl near San Diego State University. Nunez is the son of former California Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, who had close ties to Schwarzenegger.
While Sacramento County Judge Lloyd Connelly said Schwarzenegger acted within his executive powers, the governor's decision to reduce the prison term was "repugnant to the bulk of the citizenry of this state," U-T San Diego reported.
Connelly said a 2008 constitutional amendment does not require a governor to notify victims and their families before granting clemency.
The family of the victim, 22-year-old Luis Santos, said they still want the sentence commutation tossed.
"The attorney general's office fought for corruption and they won," Kathy Santos, the victim's mother, said outside the court. "Where's the justice for our son? He was murdered. Two conniving politicians got away with it."
Ethiopian P.M. Desalegn still not sworn in
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, Sept. 7 (UPI) -- The failure of Ethiopia's Parliament to swear in acting Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn has created uncertainty about the country's future, officials say.
Desalegn was supposed to be officially sworn in Thursday following the death of late Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, but the ruling Ethiopian People's Democratic Front delayed the appointment, Bikyamasr.com reported.
Zenawi, who came to power in the 1990s, died Aug. 20.
The delay has led some to think there is conflict within the EPRDF, as people say Zenawi's death should be used as an opportunity to move the country toward democracy.
"I say today is the perfect time for all Ethiopians to bury the hatchet of ethnic division, religious sectarianism, regional conflict and human rights violations," Ethiopian political thinker and Professor Alemayehu G. Mariam wrote in an opinion article earlier this week. "It is the perfect time to shake hands, embrace each other and get our noses to the grindstone to build a new democratic Ethiopia where the rule of law is upheld and human rights and democratic institutions respected."
Meanwhile, some citizens say they would just like the issue resolved.
"We just want to move forward and get things back on track," a shopkeeper in Addis Ababa told Bikyamasr.com.
