U.S., N. Korea resolve cash issue
The United States and North Korea resolved a dispute over $25 million in frozen North Korean funds in a Macau bank that threatened to hold up nuclear disarmament negotiations, a top U.S. official said today.
Deputy Assistant Treasury Secretary Daniel Glaser said the funds would be transferred to a Bank of China account in Beijing to be used for education and humanitarian purposes in North Korea.
The North Korean deposits have been frozen in the Banco Delta Asia since Washington blacklisted the small, privately run Macau-based bank 19 months ago on suspicion the funds were connected to money-laundering or counterfeiting.
Washington promised to resolve the issue by mid-March as part of an agreement last month on North Korea’s nuclear disarmament. On Saturday, North Korea’s nuclear envoy said Pyongyang would not shut down its main nuclear reactor until the funds were released.
The U.S. nuclear envoy, Christopher Hill, said the six-party talks – which resumed today – could now “move on to the next problem of which there are many.”
CHILTON, Wis.
Man back in prison for 2005 murder
A man who spent 18 years in prison for a rape he didn’t commit was convicted Sunday of murdering a photographer, whose charred bones were found in a burn pit outside his home.
Steven Avery, 44, faces a mandatory life prison term for killing Teresa Halbach, 25, on Halloween 2005 near his family’s salvage yard.
Two years before Halbach died, Avery was released from prison after serving 18 years for a Manitowoc County rape that DNA analysis showed he did not commit. He later settled a wrongful-conviction lawsuit against the county for $400,000.
The jury convicted Avery of first-degree intentional homicide and being a felon in possession of a firearm. He was acquitted of mutilating a corpse.
TRAPHILL, N.C.
Teams search area for missing Scout
Search teams combed mountain terrain Sunday for a 12-year-old Boy Scout who disappeared during an outing.
About 10 Scouts and the adult leaders of Troop 230, from Greensboro, noticed that Michael Auberry was missing after lunch Saturday in Doughton Park, which is part of the Blue Ridge Parkway.
The troop had gone on a hike earlier on Saturday, and the boy stayed behind with an adult because he wanted to sleep in, said David Bauer, a parkway ranger.
After the troop returned and ate lunch with Michael and the adult, the troop noticed the boy was missing from camp. Searchers found part of his mess kit less than a mile away overnight Saturday, Bauer said.
“At this point we’re looking at every possibility,” Bauer said. “The most probable thing is that he walked away, went out in the woods and went to investigate.”