Pakistan: U.S. bans supplies to nuclear facility

The United States has imposed a two-year ban on supplies to Pakistan’s largest nuclear facility, but the decision will not affect the country’s nuclear program, the government said Saturday.

The announcement came after both India and Pakistan on Wednesday conducted tit-for-tat nuclear-capable missile tests, prompting a joint statement from the United States and Britain urging the nuclear rivals to ease tension and engage in dialogue.

Islamabad reportedly is developing ballistic missiles and working on nuclear ordnance at the facility.

Gaza Strip: New prime minister works to form Cabinet

The new Palestinian prime minister visited the Gaza Strip on Saturday for the first time since his appointment, meeting leaders of Yasser Arafat’s Fatah movement as he works to form a Cabinet.

Fatah members declined to give details about their meeting with Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, but Abbas has been consulting with Palestinian leaders about the Cabinet.

The visit came as Israeli troops shot and killed a 17-year-old Palestinian near the West Bank town of Nablus. The army said the teenager had thrown a homemade firebomb at troops.

New Jersey: Mother of starved boys is returned to prison

The woman whose 7-year-old son was found dead in the same basement where two other sons were found starving has been sentenced to four years in prison for violating probation.

Melinda Williams had been on probation after being convicted of child endangerment in 1997 for injuring a child she was baby-sitting.

The charges are unrelated to the treatment of her own children, whom Williams had left with a cousin, Sherry Murphy, while she was in jail.

Murphy, 41, is in jail on charges of child endangerment for allegedly mistreating Williams’ children.

New Mexico: U.S. employees missing in mountains found alive

Two federal employees who had been missing overnight in the mountains near Santa Fe Ski Basin, where temperatures fell into the teens, were found alive Saturday, cold and tired.

Dan Murray and Richard Armijo were being checked out but seemed to be fine, state police Lt. Rob Shilling said.

Murray and Armijo, employees of the Natural Resources Conservation Service, had been measuring the depth of the snowpack in the Aspen Vista area.