Cheney aneurysms repaired in surgery

Vice President Dick Cheney had successful surgery yesterday to repair aneurysms on the back of both knees and was alert and comfortable after the six-hour procedure, his spokesman said.

The surgery on Cheney, 64, who has a history of heart problems, was done using local anesthesia at George Washington University Hospital. "He will remain in the hospital for up to 48 hours to monitor his recovery," said Steve Schmidt, counselor to the vice president.

Cheney's aneurysms, known as popliteal aneurysms, were discovered during his physical in July. The chief risk they pose is the loss of a leg, which can occur if a clot forms in the damaged stretch of artery, stopping blood flow or, in some cases breaking off and plugging downstream vessels.

Cheney had been scheduled to have only the right knee operated on yesterday, but his doctors decided to do both at once, Schmidt said. Doctors used a newer technique on Cheney, putting flexible stent grafts in his knee arteries to bypass the aneurysms.

Deadly shooting ends manhunt

A Puerto Rican nationalist leader wanted in a 1983 robbery of a Connecticut armored truck died during an FBI stakeout, ending 15 years on the run, the island's police chief said yesterday.

A gunbattle erupted Friday as FBI agents closed in to arrest Filiberto Ojeda Rios, 72, in a farmhouse in Hormigueros, Pedro Toledo said.

But Toledo said he did not know how Ojeda Rios, a hero to the island's radical independence activists, died. The FBI found the body in the farmhouse, he said. A law-enforcement agent, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Ojeda Rios was shot and killed. He had been on the run since 1990, when he went into hiding while awaiting trial for the robbery of $7.2 million from a Wells Fargo depot in West Hartford, Conn.

Judge grants delay for sniper defendant

A judge has granted a delay for John Allen Muhammad's trial in the six Maryland deaths linked to the Washington, D.C.-area sniper spree.

Montgomery County Judge John Debelius III granted the delay requested by Muhammad's attorneys, citing "the very complicated logistics involved in the trial of this case and the length of trial."

Muhammad and his alleged accomplice, John Lee Malvo, are charged with six counts of first-degree murder in the 2002 deaths in Montgomery County. Both have been convicted of shootings in Virginia. Muhammad was sentenced to death.

Flight to Tokyo 43 hours late

A Northwest Airlines flight to Tokyo finally took off yesterday, 43 hours late.

Mechanical problems and lack of a crew had kept the Boeing 747-400 on the ground since its scheduled departure time of 3 p.m. Thursday. The delay was not caused by the airline's mechanics' and custodians' strike, which began Aug. 20, Northwest spokeswoman Jennifer Bagdade said.

Bagdade said Northwest tried to rebook all the passengers on other flights, but many of those flights were full. When the plane left on the more than 12-hour flight, it carried about 100 fewer passengers than its original 365. Northwest apologized and will pay for two nights' food and lodging and said it plans to give passengers $700 in travel certificates.

Also

Alan Rosenberg was elected president of the Screen Actors Guild on Friday, succeeding Melissa Gilbert, who decided not to run again.

Compiled from The Associated Press and the Los Angeles Times