BOSTON

Clam boat pulls up canisters; two crew members sickened

The Coast Guard says an Atlantic City, N.J.-based fishing boat dredging for clams south of Long Island, N.Y., pulled up 10 canisters, including one that broke open and caused two crew members to experience blistering and difficulty breathing.

The Coast Guard said the two crew members from the ESS Pursuit were taken to St. Luke’s Hospital in New Bedford, Mass. One was transferred to Massachusetts General Hospital, and the other has been released.

The Coast Guard said it was not immediately clear what chemical was involved. The agency issued a rare order to the vessel to return to port Monday. The canisters were dropped back into the ocean.

KALAMAZOO, Mich.

Don’t pass buck to others, Obama advises graduates

Don’t mimic Washington by making excuses, President Obama advised graduating high school students Monday night as he urged them to take responsibility for failure as well as success.

In remarks to the senior class of 1,700-student Kalamazoo Central High School, Obama said it’s easy to blame others when problems arise.

“We see it every day out in Washington,” the president said.

He said the high school kids can and have done better than that.

The school bested more than 1,000 schools to win a national competition in which the prize was Obama as graduation speaker. The school was among three finalists picked after the public voted on videos and essays submitted by the schools. The White House made the final selection.

TAXCO, Mexico

Officials recover 55 bodies dumped in mass grave

At least 55 bodies have been recovered from an abandoned silver mine that became a dumping ground for apparent victims of Mexico’s drug violence, authorities said Monday.

The search for more victims ended over the weekend at the mine on the outskirts of Taxco, a colonial-era tourist town, said Albertico Guinto, the state of Guerrero’s attorney general.

Guinto said the overall toll could still rise, however, as forensic examiners try to determine whether other human remains, clothing and shoes found in the shaft correspond to victims already included in the tally.

At least 15 people have been detained in the case.

COPENHAGEN, Denmark

Citing age, ‘Muhammad’ cartoonist says he’ll retire

Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard, who caricatured the Prophet Muhammad and caused outrage in the Muslim world, said Monday he is quitting because he is getting old.

Westergaard, who turns 75 on July 13, said he hopes his retirement might help “to lower the terror threat” against the Jyllands-Posten newspaper, where he has been working for the past 27 years.

There have been at least three terror attempts against Westergaard or his newspaper since he and 11 other artists angered Muslims by creating the Muhammad cartoons four years ago.

 

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