In the news

Steven Chu, the U.S. energy secretary, shared a picture of himself as a zombie on his Facebook page in an effort to teach users about saving electricity and warned about so-called vampire appliances, such as computers, stereos and DVD players, which use power in standby mode.

Pope Benedict XVI

cautioned some 100,000 Catholic children from throughout Italy about the presentation of love on the Internet, saying at the Vatican that they risk losing respect by pursuing affection that is pitched like “merchandise.”

Harold Owens, owner of Harold’s Restaurant in Virginia Beach, Va., said he had to close the business while firefighters freed a former employee who was trapped inside an exhaust vent over the kitchen stove and who later apologized to Owens for trying to enter the eatery through the vent.

Jorman Sampaio, 26, was being held at the Okaloosa County sheriff’s office in Florida without bail over allegations he robbed Destin’s Union State Bank, fled with $6,000 and dropped his wallet containing an ID photo.

King Abdullah

of Saudi Arabia invited the leaders of Iraq’s political blocs to the Saudi capital, Riyadh, for talks aimed at breaking a seven-month deadlock over the formation of a new Iraqi government.

Justice Paul Wooten

of the State Supreme Court in Manhattan ruled that 6-year-old Juliet Breitman, who is accused of running down 87-year-old Claire Menagh while racing a bicycle with training wheels on a New York City sidewalk in April 2009, can be sued for negligence by the estate of Menagh, who died later that year.

Scott Nugent, a former police officer in Winnfield, La., accused of applying eight Taser gun shocks to Baron Pikes, a handcuffed man who later died, was acquitted at his manslaughter trial.

Howard Partridge, 73, of Sweet Home, Ore., traveled three miles in his wheelchair before hunters found him and helped rescue his sister, Janice Partridge, 61, after their car got stuck for two nights in the snow after they went for a drive to see autumn foliage.

Vicente Fox, the former Mexican president, announced his support of California’s ballot initiative to legalize the commercial cultivation and sale of marijuana, saying such a move would be “a step toward saying to the [Mexican] peasant, ‘You can grow marijuana legally and export it.’”

Front Section, Pages 1 on 10/31/2010

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