In brief: Ex-employee kills two UPS workers, turns gun on self

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The man who killed two former co-workers and then himself at a UPS shipping center Tuesday had told some people that he was having problems at work but never suggested the situation might turn violent, his pastor said.

Birmingham police late Tuesday identified the shooter as 45-year-old Kerry Joe Tesney of suburban Trussville. They did not release the slain people’s names but said they were part of management. They are investigating as a double homicide and suicide.

Tesney and his wife have two children, and they’ve been members at NorthPark Baptist Church since 2003, said the church’s pastor, Bill Wilks.

Tesney and his wife, Melissa, are listed as distributors for Advocare, a multilevel marketing company that sells health and fitness products.

UPS spokesman Steve Gaut would not say what Tesney’s job duties had been before his firing from the company was finalized Monday.

U.S. excepts Korea in pledge to eliminate land mines

WASHINGTON – The U.S. has pledged to get rid of all stockpiles of land mines except those to defend South Korea, the State Department said Tuesday.

The decision to exclude the Korean peninsula follows a commitment the U.S. made in June that it would not make, keep or fortify current stockpiles of anti-personnel land mines.

The U.S. is “deeply concerned about the humanitarian effects of anti-personnel land mines,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said. “As the world’s leading donor to humanitarian mine action, we have long worked to mitigate the human costs of their use.”

Land mines can remain active for years after being buried. Since 1993, Psaki said, the U.S. has provided more than $2.3 billion in aid to more than 90 countries to dismantle conventional weapons programs. Some of that money has gone to the clearance of land mines and unexploded munitions.

Countless land mines remain in the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea, left over from the Korean War, when millions were buried.

Although the Obama administration says it honors the spirit of the international anti-land-mine treaty, the Ottawa Convention, the U.S. is not yet a signatory.