Austria

President dies at 71

President Thomas Klestil, who brought calm to an office frayed by controversy surrounding his predecessor’s past in the Nazi army, died Tuesday. He was 71.

Klestil, whose second six-year term was to end Thursday, died shortly before midnight from multiple organ failure, officials at Vienna’s General Hospital told The Associated Press. He had been taken to the hospital on Monday after suffering heart failure.

Klestil was widely credited with restoring Austria’s credibility following revelations that predecessor Kurt Waldheim served in Germany’s Nazi military. Klestil distinguished himself by speaking out numerous times against Austria’s Nazi complicity during World War II.

Mexico City

Funeral disruption creates tension with U.S.

The U.S. Embassy on Tuesday sent a diplomatic note demanding to know why Mexican troops interrupted the Mexican funeral of a U.S. Marine who died in Iraq.

Mexican soldiers with automatic weapons disrupted the graveside burial of Lance Cpl. Juan Lopez on Sunday in his hometown of San Luis de la Paz. Lopez, 22, was killed in an ambush in Ramadi, west of Baghdad, on June 21.

Late Tuesday night, Mexico’s Foreign Relations Department issued a statement saying it was “sorry the actions that occurred during the ceremony caused the interruption of such a solemn act … .”

But, the statement continued, Mexico’s soldiers “had an obligation to ensure the law wasn’t being violated. The intervention of the members of the Mexican army was for the sole purpose of verifying the (kind of) weapons the honor guard was carrying during the ceremony.”

Washington, D.C.

9-11 commission repeats claim on Iraq

The 9-11 commission is standing by its finding that al-Qaida had only limited contact with Iraq before the terrorist attacks, a determination disputed by Vice President Dick Cheney.

Cheney criticized the commission’s finding in an interview with CNBC and said there “probably” was information about Iraq’s links to terrorists that the commission members did not learn during their 14-month investigation.

The 10-member, bipartisan panel issued a statement Tuesday saying it had access to the same information as Cheney, who suggested strong ties between ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and al-Qaida.

The commission invited Cheney to offer any evidence that he thought it didn’t have, but it never received any information.

Washington, D.C.

Gasoline prices keep falling

Gasoline prices continued their decline, falling to a national average of just over $1.89 a gallon for regular grade last week, the Energy Department reported Tuesday.

The 2.6 cents-a-gallon decrease marked the sixth week that gasoline prices have dropped nationwide after reaching $2.06 a gallon in the week ending May 22.

While prices have dropped nearly 17 cents a gallon over the last six weeks, motorists still are paying almost 47 cents a gallon more this year than at the same time a year ago.