French Catholic bishop convicted for silence

PARIS -- A French bishop who was convicted for keeping silent about a priest who sexually abused children announced Friday that he would not appeal the decision, saying he did not want to reopen wounds by forcing victims to return to court.

Bishop Pierre Pican said, however, that he regretted that the court's decision has set a precedent limiting the Roman Catholic clergy's right to keep professional secrets.

A court in the western city of Caen handed Pican, 66, a three-month suspended prison sentence on Tuesday for concealing knowledge that a priest in his diocese, Rev. Rene Bissey, had raped and molested boys.

Pican, in charge of the Bayeux-Lisieux diocese in Normandy, had learned of Bissey's acts in confidential talks -- outside the confessional, where secrets are considered sacrosanct.

Navy training chief stripped of post

NORTH CHICAGO, Ill. -- The commander of a Navy training center has been stripped of his post after being found guilty of misusing Navy money.

Rear Adm. David Polatty III, who commanded the Great Lakes Naval Training Center for about a year, also lost part of his pay.

The Navy said it determined at a hearing Thursday that Polatty wrongfully collected travel expenses and accepted gifts prohibited under Navy regulations.

The base trains every Navy recruit. More than 56,000 recruits and 34,000 sailors get technical training at the base annually.

Man gets prison for starvation death

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. -- A man was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison for letting his AIDS-infected daughter starve to death.

Anthony Richardson, 39, was sentenced Thursday for second-degree murder.

His 7-year-old daughter, Brianna, died in 1999 at her Running Springs home. She weighed 33 pounds, which doctors said would be normal for a child half her age. The cause of death was listed as severe malnutrition with complications from AIDS.

Brianna contracted AIDS at birth from her mother, who later died.

Tokyo task force to battle crows

TOKYO -- Tokyo's city government declared a crackdown on crows on Friday, appointing a team of experts to wipe out the pesky birds that gorge themselves on garbage and squawk menacingly at passers-by.

Officials believe the Japanese capital is home to at least 21,000 crows, up from 7,000 in 1985. The birds are believed to have migrated from jungles in Southeast Asia.

The government said Friday it was forming an 18-member committee of experts in forestry, civil engineering and veterinary science to draw up a plan to eliminate the pests once and for all.

City officials said the birds are a real threat, with scythe-like beaks and wingspans of more than three feet.

Pittsburgh shoe sniffer goes for woman's feet

PITTSBURGH -- Four well-heeled women have complained to police that a middle-aged man accosted them, removed their footwear and sniffed the shoes.

One women said the man complimented her footwear as she entered an office elevator on Thursday and asked if he could take a shoe. When she refused, the man bent down and removed it anyway, then sniffed it "like it was a bouquet of flowers."

"It was like a religious experience for him," said the woman, a 44-year-old graphic artist who declined to be identified.

The same day, Patty Cohen, 42, said a man kicked the back of her heel and knocked off her shoe on the street. After apologizing, he grabbed her shoe and smelled it.

--From staff reports