A Russian arms dealer accused of breaking U.N. arms embargoes by supplying weapons to African war zones was arrested Thursday in Bangkok, Thailand, police there said. Viktor Bout was arrested in the heart of the capital city on a warrant issued by a Thai court, said police Lt. Gen. Pongpat Chayapan, head of the Crime Suppression Bureau. The warrant stemmed from an earlier one issued by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, he said.
A student was arrested Thursday after two partially assembled pipe bombs were found in a dormitory room at the University of California-Davis, authorities said. Hundreds of students were forced to evacuate their dorms overnight as a precaution but authorities said there was no imminent danger of explosions and no evidence of terrorism. After questioning four students, police arrested 18-year-old Mark Woods, a freshman economics major from Torrance, Calif. University spokeswoman Lisa Lapin said he has been cooperating with authorities. No other arrests were expected.
Americans’ percentage of equity in their homes fell below 50 percent for the first time on record since 1945, the Federal Reserve said Thursday. Homeowners’ portion of equity slipped to downwardly revised 49.6 percent in the second quarter of 2007, the central bank reported in its quarterly U.S. Flow of Funds Accounts, and declined further to 47.9 percent in the fourth quarter – the third straight quarter it was under 50 percent.\nDemocratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean urged Florida and Michigan party officials to come up with plans to repeat their presidential nominating contests so that their delegates can be counted. “All they have to do is come before us with rules that fit into what they agreed to a year and a half ago, and then they’ll be seated,” Dean said during a round of interviews Thursday on network and cable TV news programs. The two state parties will have to find the funds to pay for new contests without help from the national party, Dean said.
