BUDAPEST, Hungary

Photo shows apparent leak before spill of toxic sludge

An aerial photo taken months before a gigantic reservoir unleashed torrents of toxic sludge shows a faint red trail trickling through the container wall – part of a growing body of evidence that inspectors who gave the pit a clean bill of health may have missed warning signs.

Police were examining the photo Tuesday as part of an investigation into how part of the wall containing the 350 million cubic feet of caustic slurry could have given way without structural weaknesses being detected by a team of inspectors from the government environmental agency who inspected the container pond less then two weeks before the spill.

Disaster commissioner Gyorgy Bakondi, appointed to the newly created post Monday night, said Tuesday the inspections were under investigation, including claims by environmental inspectors that “they had found everything in order.”

SAN FRANCISCO

Stem cell agency pulls winners of poetry contest

An attempt to lighten up the heavy subject of stem cells through poetry has backfired on the California agency that manages the state’s $3 billion research fund.

The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine decided to hold a poetry contest to commemorate Stem Cell Awareness Day last Wednesday. But it later pulled the winning entries from its website because of religious language in one of the works.

The poem “Stem C.” begins, “This is my body/which is given for you,” and ends with, “Take this/in remembrance of me.”

The words echo language used during Holy Communion in many Christian churches.

The conservative California Family Council called the poem blasphemous.

The agency apologized in a statement for any offense the poem may have caused.