Arizona

Interior secretary told to order owl habitat

A federal judge has ordered Interior Secretary Gale Norton to comply immediately with an earlier order to redesignate critical habitat for the threatened Mexican spotted owl, pictured above.

U.S. District Judge David Bury dismissed Interior Department arguments that it should not be required to make such a designation, required under the Endangered Species Act, until Congress appropriates enough money.

In his order issued Friday, Bury cited an appellate court ruling that found “the United States may not evade the law simply by failing to appropriate enough money to comply with it.”

Bury castigated the Interior Department for failing to designate critical habitat for the owls in Arizona and New Mexico since it was listed as a threatened species a decade ago.

Bolivia

Demonstrators block roads; protests persist

Protesters threw up road blockades of giant boulders and burning mounds of trash in and around Bolivia’s capital Tuesday, demanding the president resign after days of deadly rioting and clashes.

With stocks of food and other basics dwindling, La Paz ground to a standstill. Leaders of labor unions and Indian groups called for more protests, a day after clashes between demonstrators and soldiers killed at least 16.

President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, who has refused calls to step down, remained secluded in his heavily guarded residence. The crisis began about three weeks ago from his free-market plan to export natural gas to the United States and Mexico.

New York City

Yahoo pulls Web site of Ghettopoly creator

A satire of the board game Monopoly mocking inner-city life was kicked off Yahoo this week after angry protests from black leaders and clergy.

“They can’t do this. This is America,” the game’s creator, David Chang, 28, complained to the New York Daily News after the Web site was shut down.

Chang used a Yahoo E-store to sell his Ghettopoly game.

When he tried to log onto the page Monday, he found it was gone. Then he got an e-mail from Yahoo saying it would no longer play host to his site.

The game includes “pimp” and “40-ounce” game pieces, crack houses and projects, and properties such as Hernando’s Chop Shop and Ray Ray’s Chicken and Ribs.

Haiti

Protesters demand president’s resignation

Protesters hurled rocks at police and blocked streets with flaming tire barricades for a second day Tuesday in a town on Haiti’s west coast, demanding President Jean-Bertrand Aristide’s resignation.

Police fired into the air to break up the demonstration in St. Marc, where about 1,000 protesters took to the streets, Haitian radio news reports said. No one was reported injured.

Supporters of a street gang have held three weeks of violent demonstrations since the gang’s leader was found murdered last month near St. Marc, accusing the government of involvement.