San Diego: Nixon press secretary dies

Ron Ziegler, the combative former press secretary to President Nixon who famously called the Watergate break-in a “third-rate burglary,” died Monday of a heart attack, his wife, Nancy, said. He was 63.

Ziegler functioned as the point man for an administration under fire, the president’s strident defender until the public release of the Watergate tapes made it clear that Nixon and his top aides had engaged in a vast cover-up.

White House counsel John Dean, who helped expose the scandal, said in an e-book published last year on Salon.com that Ziegler, despite his complaints about Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, was one of the people who may have been Deep Throat, the mysterious, chain-smoking source who gave Woodward crucial information in secret late-night meetings.

Woodward has said he will not reveal Deep Throat’s identity until that person’s death. Last year, he said Deep Throat was still alive.

North Korea: Food donations dry up

The World Food Program said Monday that it has cut off aid to several million needy North Koreans because governments that normally donate food for distribution are now reluctant to deal with the hostile regime in Pyongyang.

The United Nations assistance agency said that since last year it has stopped feeding 2.2 million of its 4.2 million core beneficiaries in North Korea — including children, pregnant women and the elderly — and will cut off service to another 700,000 recipients by the end of February as donations of corn, rice, wheat, vegetable oil and milk have dried up.

The agency indicated that it was facing the most serious disruption of its food delivery pipeline to North Korea since the country plummeted into famine in 1995.

Chicago: Muslim charity director guilty

The head of a Muslim charity accused of funneling money to Osama bin Laden’s terror network pleaded guilty Monday to illegally buying boots and uniforms for fighting forces in Bosnia and Chechnya.

As part of the plea bargain, prosecutors dropped charges that Enaam Arnaout, 41, aided bin Laden. But they insisted he committed the offense, and said they agreed to the plea bargain to secure a conviction and Arnaout’s cooperation while sparing the government the expense of a trial.

The case has been considered a major part of government efforts to choke off the flow of U.S. dollars to terrorists around the world.