UNITED NATIONS

U.N. backs force to capture Kony, ‘neutralize’ his army

The United Nations has endorsed an African Union force to capture warlord Joseph Kony and neutralize his Lord’s Resistance Army.

The 15-member Security Council approved the “United Nations Regional Strategy to Address the Threat and Impact of the Activities of the LRA” in a presidential statement Friday.

The plan provisions a new force of 5,000 AU soldiers and bolsters humanitarian efforts.

The LRA is notorious for carrying out massacres, mutilating victims and abducting boys for use as child soldiers.

DUBLIN

Former aide to U2 bassist found guilty of embezzlement

An Irish jury unanimously found a former aide to U2 bassist Adam Clayton guilty of embezzlement Friday after she spent more than $3.6 million of the musician’s savings on 22 thoroughbred horses, pricey plane tickets and other indulgences for herself and her family.

Carol Hawkins, 48, sat impassively as each of the 181 guilty verdicts was read out in Dublin Criminal Court. She made no comment. Her lawyers, who called no witnesses during the three-week trial, said she was still protesting her innocence.

Judge Patrick McCartan granted Hawkins bail pending her sentencing July 6. Addressing the jurors, he said: “The evidence in this case was overwhelming. Nobody could seriously disagree with the verdict you have given.”

Outside the courthouse, Clayton, 52, shook jurors’ hands and issued a prepared statement thanking the police for their work and his family, friends and U2 colleagues for their support.

Hawkins had claimed that Clayton either authorized her expenditures – including several foreign trips, the horses, a new car and university courses for her two children – or that she had paid him back by using her own money to pay his bills.