Pennsylvania

Hundreds mourn boy who died at Disney World

Hundreds of mourners turned out to remember a 4-year-old boy who died after going on a ride at Walt Disney World, and the child’s mother recalled how her son wanted to give all his toys to children he met on a trip to Africa.

Daudi I. Bamuwamye, of Sellersville, died June 13 after riding the “Mission: Space” ride at the Epcot theme park in Orlando, Fla. The cause of death remains under investigation.

“When you can’t understand his plan, trust his heart,” the boy’s mother, Agnes Bamuwamye, sang Saturday at the funeral service at Bethel Baptist Church.

Daudi’s father, Moses L. Bamuwamye, works in New York at the United Nations, and the boy traveled extensively with his parents. People who attended the service said Daudi’s mother recalled how he wanted to give away his toys to African children.

Agnes Bamuwamye told authorities her son’s body was rigid during the ride, but she thought he was just frightened. Afterward, he could not be revived.

The ride simulates a rocket launch and trip to Mars; it is so intense that it has motion sickness bags and several riders have been treated for chest pain.

Oregon

CIA pilot buried 53 years after being shot down

A CIA pilot killed in an ambush by Chinese communists 53 years ago has been buried in his mother’s grave, a year after military investigators found his remains and identified them.

Robert Snoddy was 31 when he was shot down on a clandestine mission in Manchuria in 1952.

A last wish of Snoddy’s mother was that no marker be placed on her grave until her son came home. A stone with the names of both mother and son will mark the long-delayed reunion.

Snoddy worked for the CIA, helping forces trying to unseat China’s communist government. On his last mission, Snoddy and fellow pilot Norman Schwartz were leading a night flight to pick up what they thought was an anti-communist operative in what was then Manchuria, near the North Korean border.

But the operative apparently was a double agent and alerted communist forces. They opened fire as Snoddy and Schwartz came in low over the pickup spot, and the two pilots died when the plane burst into flames and crashed.

New York

CIA chief has ‘excellent idea’ where bin Laden is

The director of the CIA says he has an “excellent idea” where Osama bin Laden is hiding, but that the United States’ respect for sovereign nations makes it more difficult to capture the al-Qaida chief.

In an interview with Time for the magazine’s June 27 issue, Porter Goss was asked about the progress of the hunt for bin Laden.

“When you go to the question of dealing with sanctuaries in sovereign states, you’re dealing with a problem of our sense of international obligation, fair play,” Goss said. “We have to find a way to work in a conventional world in unconventional ways.”

Asked whether that meant he knew where bin Laden is, Goss responded: “I have an excellent idea where he is. What’s the next question?”

Goss did not say where he thinks bin Laden is, nor did he specify what country or countries he was referring to when he spoke of foreign sanctuaries. But American officials have long said they believed bin Laden was hiding in rugged mountains along the Afghan-Pakistani border.

Denver

Citadel selects new president

Air Force Academy Supt. Lt. Gen. John Rosa, who took over the school following a sex assault scandal and acknowledged problems of religious intolerance, is leaving to become president of his alma mater, The Citadel.

Rosa, a 1973 Citadel graduate, will replace John Grinalds, who leaves Aug. 1 after eight years running the state military college in Charleston, S.C., to become headmaster at a private prep school there.

Rosa, 53, became superintendent at the Air Force Academy in 2003 after four top commanders were ousted following a sexual assault scandal. Scores of female cadets said they had been raped by fellow cadets with no action taken against their attackers. In some cases, they were punished for reporting assaults.

Rosa publicly admitted the sexual assault problem and focused attention on guaranteeing female cadets that their complaints would be heard.

This week, the Air Force plans to release a report on claims that evangelical Christians have harassed cadets of other faiths. Rosa has acknowledged there is a problem of religious intolerance at the academy.

Billy Jenkinson, chairman of The Citadel’s governing board, said Rosa’s knowledge of the college and leadership experience made him the ideal choice.