DES MOINES, Iowa – McDonald’s Corp. said Monday it will require its U.S. pork suppliers to provide plans by May to phase out crates that tightly confine pregnant sows, a move that one animal rights group predicted would have “a seismic impact” on the industry.
The fast food chain announced its decision in a joint statement with the Humane Society of the United States, which hailed it as a major victory in its fight against so-called gestation crates. The animal welfare group has been pushing legislation in several states to outlaw the crates that severely limit animals’ movement.
Nation
Sandusky can visit with grandchildren
A judge ruled Monday that former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky can have supervised contact with most of his grandchildren, saying there was no evidence that the children’s parents wouldn’t be able to keep them safe.
Judge John Cleland also rejected requests by prosecutors that jurors be brought in from outside the State College area to hear the case and that Sandusky remain indoors while on home confinement before trial.
Justice Breyer victim of island robbery
Justice Stephen Breyer was robbed last week by a machete-wielding intruder at his vacation home in the West Indies, a Supreme Court spokeswoman said Monday.
The 73-year-old Breyer, wife Joanna and guests were confronted by the robber around 9 p.m. Thursday in the home Breyer owns on the Caribbean island of Nevis, spokeswoman Kathy Arberg said. The intruder took about $1,000 in cash and no one was hurt, Arberg said.
World
Al-Qaida cleric out on house arrest
Abu Qatada, a radical Muslim cleric whom British officials say is an al-Qaida figurehead and a threat to national security, was freed from an English prison into virtual house arrest late Monday, British media reported.
The Palestinian-Jordanian cleric has spent more than six years in prison, but a tribunal ruled last week he should be released on bail.
British officials say he poses a serious threat to the country’s security, but attempts to deport him to Jordan to face terrorism charges was blocked by the European Court of Human Rights, which ruled last month there is a risk that evidence obtained through torture would be used against him in court.
Syrian rebels repel regime’s tanks
Syrian rebels repelled a push Monday by government tanks into the central town of Rastan, held by forces fighting President Bashar Assad’s regime in an 11-month conflict that looks increasingly like a civil war.
Army defectors are clashing almost daily with soldiers. The rebels have taken control of small swathes of territory in central Homs province, where Rastan is located, and the northwest province of Idlib, which borders Turkey.
Libyan militias unite to press government
Representatives of about 100 militias from western Libya said Monday they had formed a new federation to prevent infighting and allow them to press the country’s new government for further reform.
The move was a blow to the National Transitional Council, which helped lead the eight-month uprising against longtime ruler Moammar Gadhafi that ended with his capture and death in October. The NTC has struggled for months to stamp its authority on the country.
