New York City: 76-foot spruce arrives in Rockefeller Center

The 76-foot Norway spruce that once irked Mary Rizzo when it blocked the walkway to her house looked just perfect to her after it was put up Wednesday as Rockefeller Center’s Christmas tree.

The 7-ton tree was taken from the property of Mary and her husband, Carmine Rizzo, in Bloomsbury, N.J. In a first for a tradition that began in 1931, the tree was chosen based on a photograph sent in by the owners.

“We were here last year and looked at the tree and said, ‘Gee, our tree is as nice as that,”‘ said Mary Rizzo, 65.

The tree, about 75 years old, was cut down Tuesday. It will be decorated with 30,000 multicolored lightbulbs strung on five miles of wire. The tree lighting ceremony is Dec. 4, and the tree will be on display until Jan. 7.

Washington, D.C.: Bush may halt oil to N. Korea

President Bush decided Wednesday to cut off U.S. oil shipments to North Korea after one more delivery unless the Communist regime dismantles its nuclear weapons program, administration officials said.

Bush forged the policy in a meeting with his national security team, striking a compromise between key U.S. allies who oppose a harsh punishment and hard-line administration officials who wanted North Korea to pay for developing deadly weapons behind Bush’s back.

The shipments are part of a broader energy assistance package approved for North Korea in 1994. In return, the North promised to remain free of nuclear weapons but nullified the deal when it acknowledged to U.S. officials last month that it was developing a uranium bomb.

Houston: FBI: Hospitals in four cities possible targets of terrorists

The FBI has received unconfirmed information from intelligence sources overseas that hospitals in four U.S. cities could be the targets of a terrorist threat.

Houston FBI spokesman Bob Doguim said Wednesday night that the threat involved hospitals in Houston, San Francisco, Chicago and Washington, D.C.

“It’s non-specific, uncorroborated information, but nonetheless it is information we received,” he said.

He said the threat mentions the possibility of anthrax or explosives.

A statement from the Chicago FBI office said the threat suggested an attack was timed for mid-December.

Havana: Castro, NAACP discuss trade

Cuban leader Fidel Castro “seemed very interested” in creating trade links with thousands of black American farmers under a U.S. law allowing some agricultural transactions with the island, the NAACP’s leader said Wednesday.

Kweisi Mfume and other members of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People delegation discussed the issue with Castro during a four-hour meeting Tuesday. The delegation includes John Boyd, president of the National Association of Black Farmers, representing more than 12,000 growers in 38 states.

Castro scheduled a meeting between the NAACP delegation and Pedro Alvarez, president of Cuba’s food import company, for later this week, Mfume said.