WASHINGTON

Cheney feeling better after ‘mild heart attack’

Additional Photos

A woman raises her arms in a new full body scanner on the first day of a three-month test at Charles de Gaulle airport, north of Paris, Monday Feb. 22, 2010. The scanner, that can see through clothes of travelers, could be used for flights heading to the United States, although the French parliament will discuss concerns over whether the devices invade travelers' privacy or pose health risks. (AP Photo/Jacques Brinon) AP

Former Vice President Dick Cheney sustained a ”mild heart attack” but is feeling better and likely to leave the hospital within a day or two, an aide said Tuesday.

Cheney, 69, who has remained a forceful advocate for the former Bush administration and a leading Republican figure since leaving office last year, has a history of heart trouble. He was admitted to George Washington University Hospital in Washington on Monday after experiencing chest pains.

Lab tests revealed evidence of a mild heart attack, Cheney aide Peter Long said in a statement. Long reported that Cheney is ”feeling good” after undergoing a stress test and a heart catheterization. The latter procedure examines blood flow to the heart and tests how well the heart is pumping.

A heart attack occurs when blood flow to the heart muscle is blocked. The statement from Cheney’s office did not say whether he needed to have an angioplasty, a procedure to clear a blockage.

Former President George W. Bush spoke with Cheney by telephone Tuesday afternoon, a Bush aide said from Dallas.

BOSTON

Report: Logan to receive 3 of first 150 body scanners

The first of 150 full-body scanners planned for U.S. airports will be installed in Boston next week, officials said Tuesday.

The plan is to install three machines at Logan International Airport, according to a homeland security official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the announcement has not yet been made. In the next two weeks, officials plan to install another machine at Chicago’s O’Hare International.

The rest of the 150 machines that were purchased with $25 million from President Barack Obama’s 2009 stimulus plan are expected to be installed in airports by the end of June, another homeland security official, spokeswoman Amy Kudwa, said.

The use of the scanners in airports is key to the Obama administration’s plans to improve airport security because of their ability to show objects hidden on the body. Body scanners have been available for years, but their deployment has been slowed by objections from privacy advocates.

After a Nigerian man allegedly attempted to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner last Christmas, Obama called for purchasing hundreds more of the machines on top of 150 already announced last year.

SALT LAKE CITY

Fossils of new species of dinosaur discovered

Fossils of a previously undiscovered species of dinosaur have been found in slabs of Utah sandstone that were so hard that explosives had to be used to free some of the remains, scientists said Tuesday. The bones found at Dinosaur National Monument belonged to a type of sauropod — long-necked plant-eaters that were said to be the largest animal ever to roam land.

The discovery included two complete skulls from other types of sauropods — an extremely rare find, scientists said.

The fossils offer fresh insight into lives of dinosaurs some 105 million years ago, including the evolution of sauropod teeth, which reveal eating habits and other information, said Dan Chure, a paleontologist at the monument that straddles the Utah-Colorado border.

JERUSALEM

Abbas issues warning about West Bank shrine

The Palestinian president warned that the region could plunge into a ”religious war” over Israel’s plans to recognize a disputed West Bank shrine as one of its own national heritage sites.

Mahmoud Abbas spoke during a visit in Belgium, following an announcement by the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the Cave of Patriarchs in Hebron earlier this week.

The Hebron site is holy to both Jews and Muslims. Jews revere it as the traditional burial place of the Bible’s Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Muslims also see Abraham as their forefather, and control of the shrine is a flash point between Palestinians and Israelis.

Palestinians in Hebron rioted Monday to protest the Israeli decision, and tension there continued.

CAIRO

Sudanese leaders, rebels agree to a cease-fire

Darfur’s most powerful rebel group and the Sudanese government signed a truce after a year of internationally sponsored negotiations, raising hopes the bloody seven-year conflict end.

Rebel leader Khalil Ibrahim of the Justice and Equality Movement announced the cease-fire would begin that night as the international sponsors of the talks announced a $1 billion development fund for the war ravaged region.

The once bitter enemies, Ibrahim and Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, shook hands and embraced after the signing.

The next challenge for the mediators will be getting the dozens of other rebel splinter groups to join the process as the arduous power and wealth-sharing talks begin. Previous cease-fires and partial peace deals were short-lived.

”This framework agreement is a very important step,” Ibrahim said. ”We point out, however, that the road to peace still needs much patience and honest concessions from both sides.”

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