NATION IN BRIEF

CALEXICO, Calif. -- A magnitude-4.9 earthquake rocked the northern Baja California region of Mexico near the U.S. border, just days after the region was hit by a magnitude-5.4 temblor, authorities said. The quake, which occurred about 10:30 a.m. Pacific time, was centered 20 miles southeast of the border town of Mexicali, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Man Testifies in Lover's Death

CANTON, Ohio -- A former police officer accused of killing his pregnant lover sobbed on the witness stand that he accidentally hit her when she wouldn't let him out of her house. "I didn't mean to hurt her," Bobby Cutts Jr. testified. Cutts, 30, said he was at Jessie Davis's home to pick up his 2 1/2 -year-old son Blake and was telling her to hurry. He said that when she didn't move quicker to get her son ready, he started to go but Davis grabbed him and told him he couldn't leave. He said he pulled his arm away and threw his elbow back, striking her in the throat and causing her to fall.

River Water Used on Sugar Fire

PORT WENTWORTH, Ga. -- A helicopter dumped tens of thousands of gallons of river water onto a gutted sugar refinery where six workers died and two remained missing from an explosion that continued to burn more deeply than officials first suspected. One of the Imperial Sugar refinery's three 100-foot storage silos blew up late Thursday, with exploding sugar dust the likely culprit. Sand will be used to take on the four-day-old fire if water drops don't work.

-- From News Services