US hikers in Iran court, hope for end to ordeal (AFP)

TEHRAN (AFP) – A new hearing opens Sunday in the trial of three American hikers who face espionage charges in Iran after straying into the country two years ago, an ordeal their lawyer hopes will have a happy ending.

Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal, both 29, were arrested along with Sarah Shourd, 32, on the unmarked border between Iran and Iraq on July 31, 2009.

Iran accuses the three of "spying and illegally entering the country."

They have pleaded not guilty to spying charges, saying they were hiking in Iraq's northern province of Kurdistan when they innocently walked into Iran across an unmarked border.

Washington has vehemently denied Tehran's charges and has pressed for their release.

Shourd, who got engaged with Bauer while in prison in Tehran, is being tried in absentia after she returned to the United States following her release on humanitarian and medical grounds in September 2010, for which bail of about 500,000 dollars was paid.

"Since the hearing date coincides with the two year anniversary of their arrest, and it is the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan, I am hopeful that this case has a happy ending," their lawyer Masoud Shafii told AFP on Wednesday referring to the Muslim fasting month when compassion, the spirit of caring and sharing is advocated.

"I believe that they are innocent; the espionage charges have no relevance. Even if the court does not accept my defence, the two years they've spent behind bars is punishment enough," he added referring to the illegal entry charge.

Ahead of the new hearing their families issued a statement on Friday in New York, and Shourd used her statement to wish Muslims in Iran and everywhere a blessed Ramadan on behalf of the families of the two men.

"Please, if you could make a little room in your prayers on the eve of Ramadan for my fiance, my friend and our families, it would mean the world to us," she said.

The trial has been hit by a number of delays since November 6, 2010, when it was postponed to February 6, 2011 over what was termed "an error in the judicial proceedings."

Another hearing scheduled for May 11 this year was cancelled after Fattal and Bauer were not brought before the court, according to Shafii.

Shourd, who did not attend the February 6 hearing, told AFP in Washington that she will not return to Iran to join the other two in the dock.

She said she had sent Iran's revolutionary court a five-page evaluation by a clinical forensic psychologist, who concluded she was at high risk of psychological problems if she returned to face espionage charges.

Shafii said he has met Bauer and Fattal only twice, the last time on February 6, 2011 when they appeared in court for the first hearing.

"I still have not met them (for) the lawyer-client meeting that I have requested. They told me that they will inform me and I am still pursuing it," he said.

Their case has attracted high profile support in the United States.

On May 24, the legendary Muslim boxing champion Muhammad Ali supported a call for Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to free Bauer and Fattal.

Amnesty International on Friday renewed calls for Iran to release the two hikers.

The hikers' detention has added to the animosity between arch-foes Tehran and Washington, which has increased over Iran's disputed nuclear drive and outspoken remarks by hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

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Jailed Las Vegas man stabs cellmate to death with pencil (Reuters)

LAS VEGAS (Reuters) – A Las Vegas man jailed on charges of murdering his nephew killed his cellmate on Friday, stabbing him with a pencil during a fight in their cell, police said.

Guards found the cellmate unconscious and wounded during an early morning bed check at the Clark County Detention Center, and he was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. They said he had been in a fight with his cellmate.

"The suspect physically battered the deceased inmate and stabbed him with a pencil," police said in a statement. Police spokesman Bill Cassell said pencils were among items allowed in the jail.

Carl Guilford, 18, was charged with murder in connection with the death, the first killing of an inmate in the jail since 1979, when an inmate strangled his cellmate. That inmate was sentenced to death for the crime and remains on death row.

A local television news station, 8NewsNow, reported on its website that Guilford had been in custody over the suffocation death of his 6-year-old nephew.

(Reporting by Cynthia Johnston; Editing by Jerry Norton)

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US soldier charged in Fort Hood bomb plot (AFP)

WACO, Texas (AFP) – A soldier suspected of planning an attack on fellow soldiers near a US military base refused to stand up for the judge during a brief court appearance and was escorted shouting from the room.

Army Private Naser Jason Abdo has been charged with possession of an illegal firearm after his Wednesday arrest at a Killeen, Texas motel where police found bombmaking materials and literature in his room, along with a copy of the Al-Qaeda English-language magazine, Inspire.

"Abdeer Qassim al-Janabi, Iraq 2006! Nidal Hasan, Fort Hood 2009!" Abdo shouted as he was escorted out of the Texas courtroom, apparently referring to an Iraqi girl who was raped and killed by US soldiers in Mahmudiyah in 2006, and Major Nidal Hasan who is facing a court martial for killing 13 people and wounding 32 others at a Fort Hood deployment facility in November 2009.

Friday's hearing lasted just five minutes. Abdo, who was wearing a white prison jump suit, refused to stand up when the bailiff called "All rise," as Judge Jeffrey Manske entered the courtroom. Eventually four US marshals took him by the arms and made him stand before the judge.

Manske questioned Abdo about his education, and the AWOL soldier said he graduated from high school and had one year of college. When the judge asked if he was under the influence of drugs or alcohol, Abdo responded with a "no."

During an interview with FBI officials, Abdo admitted he planned to build two bombs in his budget hotel room by packing gun powder and shrapnel into pressure cookers he would then detonate at a restaurant popular with soldiers from Fort Hood, a sprawling US Army base in Texas, according to the affidavit.

Items found in his room included a .40 caliber handgun, ammunition, an Inspire article entitled "Make a bomb in the kitchen of your Mom" and bombmaking components -- including six bottles of smokeless gunpowder, shotgun shells, shotgun pellets, two clocks, two spools of auto wire, an electric drill and two pressure cookers, court documents said.

The criminal complaint filed against him was unsealed in Waco, Texas, by Judge Mankse. If convicted, Abdo faces up to 10 years in federal prison and a maximum $250,000 fine.

Attached to the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, Abdo had sought conscientious objector status to refuse deployment to Afghanistan, saying he could not fight other Muslims.

But after his status was granted in May, Abdo was charged with possession of child pornography on a computer. He then left Fort Campbell without permission early this month.

The Washington Post, citing congressional and federal officials, said Abdo had been inspired by Hasan and his shooting spree at Fort Hood in 2009.

Hasan, who mowed down fellow soldiers before he was set to deploy to Afghanistan, goes on trial March 5 and faces the death penalty if convicted.

Investigators allege that Hasan, like Abdo born in the United States of Palestinian descent, had been in contact with key Al-Qaeda cleric Anwar al-Awlaqi, a US citizen at large in Yemen.

Abdo was arrested following a tip from a clerk at Guns Galore, a store where Hasan had bought weapons used in the deadly attack. Abdo had purchased gunpowder, shotgun ammunition and a magazine for a semi-automatic handgun from the shop.

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Dahmer survivor in court in homeless man's death (AP)

MILWAUKEE – The man who led Milwaukee police to serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer 20 years ago made his first court appearance in a homeless man's death.

Tracy Edwards and another man are charged with recklessly endangering safety in the death of Johnny Jordan, who drowned after being thrown off a downtown Milwaukee bridge. Edwards and co-defendant Timothy Carr are accused of arguing with Jordan and throwing him off the bridge Tuesday.

Edwards' attorney asked the court commissioner to allow Edwards to participate by phone Saturday. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports the request was denied, and the commissioner set bail at $10,000 and scheduled an Aug. 8 preliminary hearing.

Edwards, now 52, is known for his July 1991 escape from Dahmer's apartment, which led to the serial killer's arrest.

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Price tag for Casey Anthony case near $700,000 (Reuters)

ORLANDO, Fla (Reuters) – The Casey Anthony murder investigation and trial cost taxpayers almost $700,000, based on new tallies on Friday from the major agencies involved in the case.

Prosecutors are seeking reimbursement from Anthony, 25, who was acquitted July 5 of murdering her two-year-old daughter Caylee. Casey Anthony was convicted of four charges of lying to detectives in 2008 and leading them astray from the first day of the investigation into the fate of the missing toddler.

A hearing is scheduled for August 25 at which trial judge Belvin Perry will decide how much of the bill Anthony must pay.

Although Anthony was declared indigent for purposes of her legal fees, rumors abound of possible high-priced book deals and paid interviews that could bring the infamous single mother a small fortune.

The single largest bill was $293,123 from the Orange County Sheriff's Office, which released its figures Friday. Even that includes only costs of the criminal investigation division from the time Caylee's grandmother reported her missing to the discovery five months later of her remains.

Many other expenses could not be fairly isolated, according to an accounting by Lieutenant Paul Zambouros.

"An incredible amount of manpower was deployed and over 6,000 tips were received requiring extensive man hours," Zambouros wrote in his report.

Also reported Friday was the $186,903 expended by the court clerk to select a jury, and to house and feed the 12 jurors and five alternate jurors sequestered throughout the nearly seven-week trial.

The prosecutor's office previously reported expenses of $91,000 on the case. And, after Anthony was declared indigent for legal fees, taxpayers paid $119,000 for defense expenses requested by her lawyer, according to the state Justice Administrative Commission.

The whereabouts of Anthony, released from jail on July 17, and details of how she is supporting herself are not publicly known.

The Anthony case riveted the nation for three years, first during a nationwide search for the missing Caylee and, later, as evidence piled up about Casey Anthony's many lies, the strong odor of decomposition in her car trunk, and her inappropriate behavior for a mother of a supposed missing child.

Caylee's remains, with duct tape hanging from her skull, were found in swampy woods near the Anthony home five months after she was reported missing. All that was left of the child were bones and hair, making it impossible to scientifically determine a cause of death.

Also standing in line to collect damages from Casey Anthony is Texas EquuSearch, which mounted a $100,000 search for the toddler after Anthony misled detectives by telling them Caylee had been kidnapped by a nanny named Zenaida Fernandez-Gonzalez.

Casey Anthony's lawyer Jose Baez acknowledged at trial that the nanny was a figment of her imagination.

But a Central Florida woman by the name of Zenaida Fernandez-Gonzalez is suing Anthony for damages, saying her life was destroyed after Anthony inserted her name into the case.

(Editing by Jerry Norton)

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Police: Colorado shooting suspect takes own life (AP)

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Police say they believe the suspect in a triple shooting has taken his own life following an hours-long standoff at a Colorado Springs apartment complex.

Police said in a release that 24-year-old shooting suspect Michael Arangio had barricaded himself Saturday inside a unit in The Resort at University Park complex.

Officers say they had attempted to talk Arangio into surrendering peacefully. They also tossed tear gas into the apartment, but he refused to leave.

A bomb squad robot sent into the unit after several hours discovered the man's body, and police say they believe he shot himself.

Arangio is suspected in a shooting that left three teens dead Wednesday night.

Police had received a tip from his parents that he was in the complex.

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Judge says NYT reporter must testify, limits scope (AP)

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A federal judge ruled Friday that a New York Times reporter must testify at the trial of a former CIA officer charged with leaking classified information about Iran, but limited the scope of what the journalist could be asked about.

Prosecutors have subpoenaed Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter James Risen to testify at the September trial of Jeffrey Sterling, an ex-CIA officer from Missouri. Risen's lawyers had argued that the First Amendment should shield him from having to testify about his sources.

On Friday, U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema said Risen must testify at the trial. But she ruled that his testimony be limited to four topics.

Those topics are that he wrote an article or book chapter; that they are accurate; that statements referred to in Risen's newspaper article or book chapter as being made by an unnamed source were in fact made to Risen by an unnamed source; and that statements referred to as being made by an identified source were in fact made by that identified source.

The government alleges Sterling was a key source for a chapter in Risen's 2006 book "State of War," which details a botched CIA effort during the Clinton administration, dubbed Operation Merlin, to thwart Iran's nuclear ambitions by secretly giving the Iranians intentionally flawed blueprints through a Russian intermediary.

"This is an important victory for the First Amendment and investigative reporters everywhere," Risen's lawyer Joel Kurtzberg said Friday evening, referring to the limits on what Risen can be asked to testify about.

Last year, Brinkema quashed a similar subpoena issued to Risen when the case was in front of a grand jury. She ruled that the government simply didn't need Risen's testimony to obtain an indictment in light of other evidence possessed by the government, including phone records showing multiple calls between Risen and Sterling.

Prosecutors had argued that Risen's First Amendment rights paled in comparison to the government's need to prosecute criminals and obtain evidence to which juries are rightfully entitled.

A spokesman for the Justice Department did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

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Anesthesia killed Vegas woman in cosmetic surgery (AP)

LAS VEGAS – A husband and wife who performed an illegal buttocks enhancement surgery that resulted in a Las Vegas woman's death are expected to plead guilty to manslaughter despite an autopsy report that shows the death was accidental.

Elena Caro, 42, died from an allergic reaction to the tumescent anesthesia commonly used in cosmetic surgery procedures, Clark County Coroner Mike Murphy said Friday.

But it is unlikely that Ruben Matallana-Galvas and Carmen Torres-Sanchez would be able to successfully fight the criminal case against them because the death occurred during an illegal operation in which proper safety procedures were not followed, according to Matallana-Galvas' defense attorney, Scott Coffee. The couple will plead guilty to reduced charges when they return to court Thursday under a plea deal, he said

Matallana-Galvas knows his makeshift medical office did not have the proper tools to care for Caro, Coffee said.

"The doctor didn't take the actions that we hope he would take in light of the bad reaction," he said. "He feels terrible for what happened and he wants to take responsibility for what he did."

Matallana-Galvas and Torres-Sanchez are charged with multiple crimes for Caro's death, including second-degree murder and practicing medicine without a license. They pleaded not guilty in May and were scheduled to stand trial in February.

But prosecutors have been working to avoid trial by persuading the husband and wife to plead guilty to manslaughter and practicing without a medical license. Matallana-Galvas attempted to go along with the deal during a hearing last week. He withdrew his not guilty plea and pleaded guilty, but the agreement was dropped when Torres-Sanchez refused to plead guilty. She apparently changed her mind and is expected to take the deal at the hearing scheduled for Thursday.

Under the plea deal, Matallana-Galvas and Torres-Sanchez could each serve up to nine years, Coffee said. A lawyer representing Torres-Sanchez could not be reached for comment.

The husband and wife conducted the procedure on Caro in a temporary medical clinic in the back of a Las Vegas tile shop and were not licensed to practice medicine anywhere in the United States.

Coffee said the autopsy report did not come as a surprise.

"The case is pretty much exactly what we thought it was from the beginning, which is it's a medical procedure where no one intended to do harm to this woman whatsoever," he said.

Josh Tomsheck, a former Clark County chief deputy district attorney, said the autopsy report wouldn't bother him if he was prosecuting the case.

"It's not going to be an issue for the state," he said. "They are saying essentially that there was a felony committed and during the course of that felony the person died. It doesn't matter whether it's intentional or accidental."

Dr. Julio Garcia, a plastic surgeon in Las Vegas of 24 years, said valid medical practitioners know they might be held accountable if a patient is not treated after reacting badly to anesthesia.

"You should monitor them for at least two or three hours after the procedure," he said. "You don't want to do the procedure and leave because the patient could have an adverse reaction, like that patient did."

Tumescent anesthesia is used to make a specific part of a patient's body numb. Unlike general anesthesia, it does not put the patient to sleep.

"It decreases the pain and it decreases the bruising," said Dr. Jeffrey Roth, a Las Vegas plastic surgeon who also uses general anesthesia on patients to ensure they don't feel any pain and monitors their progress with the help of a certified anesthetist. "In other words, we are not going to do surgery in the back of a tile shop."

Caro was found roaming the streets in agony less than four hours after Matallana-Galvas and Torres-Sanchez injected her buttocks with a gel substance on April 9. She was taken to a hospital, where she died that day.

Matallana-Galvas and Torres-Sanchez allegedly cleared out their medical office after treating Caro and headed to McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas, where they attempted to flee to their native Colombia, according an arrest report. The husband and wife had purchased plane tickets to return to Colombia on April 22 but were trying to catch an earlier flight. They were arrested at the airport.

Matallana-Galvas told detectives that Caro walked away from his office after the procedure. He said he was a homeopathic doctor in Colombia and did not have the proper equipment to perform the buttocks procedure.

Caro was married and had a teenage daughter. A week before her death, she had received facial Botox injections from Matallana-Galvas. When no problems arose, she returned for the buttocks injection.

Botox and similar types of injections are minimally invasive but are still considered cosmetic surgery, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.

Roth said patients who seek cosmetic surgery need to ensure they are receiving proper care.

"The whole tragedy of this whole thing was that this poor woman went to somebody who was not licensed," Roth said. "This poor lady may have saved a few dollars, but it cost her her life."

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AWOL soldier defiantly shouts '09 suspect's name (AP)

WACO, Texas – Coolly defiant, Pfc. Naser Abdo shouted "Nidal Hasan Fort Hood 2009!" as he was led out of the courtroom Friday, an apparent homage to the suspect in the worst mass shooting ever on a U.S. military installation. He condemned the attack less than a year ago, but is now accused of trying to repeat it.

Investigators say Abdo, who cited his Muslim beliefs in requesting conscientious objector status last year, was found in a motel room three miles from Fort Hood's main gate with a handgun, an article titled "Make a bomb in the kitchen of your Mom" and the ingredients for an explosive device, including gunpowder, shrapnel and pressure cookers. An article with that title appears in an al-Qaida magazine.

Abdo went absent without leave from Fort Campbell, Ky., early this month after being charged with possessing child pornography.

Police and the Army say Abdo admitted plotting an attack, but in Fuhais, Jordan, his father insisted the allegations were "all lies from A to Z."

"My son loved people no matter who they are, whether Jews or Christians," Jamal Abdo said. "Naser is not the kind of a person who harbors evil for the other people, he cannot kill anyone and he could not have done any bad thing."

Jamal Abdo, 52, is a Jordanian who lived near Fort Hood in Killeen for 25 years until he was deported from the United States last year after being convicted of soliciting a minor.

His 21-year-old son was ordered held without bond Friday. He is charged with possession of an unregistered destructive device in connection with a bomb plot and has yet to enter a plea. If convicted, he could face up to 10 years in prison.

It was not immediately known if he would face additional charges. "Our office will pursue federal charges where the evidence takes us," said Daryl Fields, spokesman for federal prosecutors.

In court, Abdo refused to stand when the judge entered — U.S. marshals pulled him from his seat — but he answered the judge's questions politely.

On his way out, he yelled "Iraq 2006!" and the name of Abeer Qassim al-Janabi, a 14-year-old Iraqi girl who was raped that year before she and her family were killed. Five current or former U.S. soldiers went to prison, one for a life term, for their roles in that attack.

He also shouted the name of Hasan, an Army major and psychiatrist who is charged with killing 13 people at Fort Hood.

Abdo's court-appointed attorney did not comment. His next hearing was set for Aug. 4.

According to court documents, Abdo told investigators he planned to construct two bombs in his motel room using gunpowder and shrapnel packed into pressure cookers and then detonate the explosives at a restaurant frequented by soldiers.

FBI Agent James E. Runkel said in an affidavit filed in federal court that police found Abdo carrying a backpack containing two clocks, wire, ammunition, a handgun and the "Make a bomb in the kitchen of your Mom" article. Such an article was featured in an issue of Inspire, an English-language magazine produced by al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, a Yemen-based branch of the terror group.

The allegations and Abdo's defiance in court contrast with the words he used as he was petitioning for conscientious objector status. In an essay he sent to The Associated Press last year he said acts like the Fort Hood shootings "run counter to what I believe in as a Muslim."

He was born in Texas to a non-denominational Christian mother and a Muslim father. Jamal Abdo said they divorced in 1993.

Naser Abdo said he became a Muslim when he was 17. He said he enlisted thinking that Army service would not conflict with his religious beliefs, but reconsidered as he explored Islam further.

"I realized through further reflection that god did not give legitimacy to the war in Afghanistan, Iraq or any war the U.S. Army could conceivably participate in," he wrote in his conscientious objector application.

Abdo was approved as a conscientious objector this year, but that status was put on hold after he was charged in May with possessing child pornography. Abdo denied the charge before this week's arrest.

Abdo went AWOL during the July 4 weekend. FBI, police and military officials have said little about whether or how they were tracking Abdo since he left Fort Campbell.

Jamal Abdo disputed both the child pornography charges and the bomb plot allegations against his son, and said Naser was discriminated against in the Army because of his religion.

"Fellow soldiers slurred him and treated him badly. They mocked him as he prayed. They cursed him and used bad language against Islam and its prophet," he said.

"He reported these incidents, but nothing was done about it," the elder Abdo said. "Therefore he wanted to leave the Army. I always told him to be calm and to focus on his duty and he used to tell me, `Yes, Papa.'"

He said Naser never mentioned al-Qaida and that he last spoke to his son a week ago.

Abdo was arrested after a gun-store clerk told authorities he bought six pounds of smokeless gunpowder, shotgun ammunition and a magazine for a semi-automatic pistol on Tuesday — while seeming to know little about what he was buying. Killeen Police Chief Dennis Baldwin has suggested that without the tip, a terror attack could have been imminent.

Two veterans groups that supported Abdo in his bid to be a conscientious objector said they have not had direct contact with him recently.

"If any of these allegations are true, any sort of violence toward anyone goes completely against what a conscientious objector believes," said Jose Vasquez, executive director of Iraq Veterans Against the War.

Another group, Courage to Resist, said in a statement that it had removed Abdo's profile from its website. It said it has paid $800 of Abdo's legal fees in the conscientious objector case.

Vasquez provided a copy of a statement Abdo sent to his group last year that claimed soldiers often associated terror with Islam "during routine training exercises."

"Only when the military and America can disassociate Muslims from terror can we move onto a brighter future of religious collaboration and dialogue that defines America and makes me proud to be an American," Abdo wrote.

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Associated Press writers Jamal Halaby in Fuhais, Jordan; Kristin M. Hall in Nashville, Tenn.; Janet Cappiello in Louisville, Ky., contributed to this report.

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Judge backs Lopez over home video row with ex (AFP)

LOS ANGELES (AFP) – A US appeal court sided with superstar Jennifer Lopez in a privacy dispute with her ex-husband over the use of the former couple's home videos.

The singer and actress, who annnounced last week that she was splitting from actor husband Marc Anthony, is seeking $10 million from her ex, Ojani Noa, and writer Ed Meyer.

Lopez says the video footage, which is not of a sexual nature, contains private information about her and her relationship with Noa, whom she married in 1997 but divorced 11 months later.

The 42-year-old, who originally sued Noa and Meyer in November 2009, alleges that the pair plan to make a movie she says is to be called "How I Married Jennifer Lopez: The J. Lo and Ojani Noa Story."

Noa and Meyer deny they are planning a tell-all movie and say it would not have the title stated in the lawsuit.

On Friday, a three-justice panel of the 2nd District Court of Appeal, reversing a lower court's ruling, said Lopez can force Noa and Meyer to resolve the case by arbitration.

The lawsuit was the second Lopez filed against Noa after their divorce: in 2007 she won $545,000 and legal costs for breach of contract over a planned ghostwritten tell-all book.

The book, which was blocked from being published, reportedly recounted how Lopez had had multiple affairs, including with her current husband Marc Anthony whom she is now leaving after seven years of marriage.

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Va. police: Family of 4, friend kidnapped, robbed (AP)

HERNDON, Va. – Police are investigating a report that a family of four and a friend were kidnapped from the family's suburban Washington, D.C. apartment, robbed and left in a remote area.

Fairfax County police said a masked man on Thursday night entered a Herndon apartment through an unlocked door, implied he had a gun, and ordered a woman, her teenage son and a toddler into a back room. Police say the man tied up the teen, and then cut the family friend with a sharp object after he entered and didn't immediately comply with an order to get on the ground.

When the father entered, he too was assaulted, police said in a news release.

Authorities said the man then ordered everyone into the family sedan and demanded they drive to an ATM machine where he withdrew money. He ordered the father into the trunk and made the family friend drive to a secluded business park where all but the father were freed. Family members ran away and flagged down a passer-by who called police, and the father escaped from the trunk when he realized the man had fled.

"The family was terrified, and this appears to be random," Fairfax County police spokeswoman Lucy Caldwell told The Washington Post.

Police believe robbery was the motive and are searching for the suspect.

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Iran may release detained U.S. hikers soon: lawyer (Reuters)

TEHRAN (Reuters) – Iran may release U.S. citizens detained on charges of espionage, their lawyer Masoud Shafiee told Reuters on Saturday, a day before a scheduled court session for the two coinciding with the second anniversary of their detention.

Josh Fattal, Shane Bauer and Sarah Shourd were arrested by Iranian forces in July 2009 on suspicion of spying after crossing into Iran from Iraq. Shourd was freed on bail in September 2010 and returned to the United States.

Under Iran's Islamic law, espionage can be punished by execution.

"Tomorrow it will be two years since my clients were jailed ... I believe their already two years in detention will serve as their sentence," Shafiee said. "I hope it will be their last court session."

In November, Iran's judiciary announced espionage charges against the three. Their families said they were hiking and had strayed across the border accidentally. Washington says the charges are totally unfounded and they should be released.

The last hearing was scheduled for May 11 but was postponed without any explanation. Iranian authorities had previously called on Shourd to return to Tehran to stand trial alongside Fattal and Bauer.

Asked whether Shourd would appear at the session, Shafiee said the court had not demanded that she should attend. "It is one of the signs. In the previous warrants Shourd was asked to return to Iran for the trials ... but this time there is no such demand," he said.

Bauer and Fattal pleaded not guilty at a closed-door court hearing on February 6 but the lawyer said he had had no recent legal access to his clients.

"So far, no permission has been granted to my request for a private meeting with my clients," Shafiee said.

"Despite asking repeatedly, I have not met them since the last trial," he said. "I hope to have a meeting with them even a few hours before tomorrow's trial."

The United States cut diplomatic ties with Tehran after the Iranian revolution in 1979. The two countries are now embroiled in a row over Iran's nuclear program, which the West suspects is aimed at making bombs. Tehran denies this.

Some Iranian officials and newspapers had suggested that the

Americans may be swapped with jailed Iranians in the United States. But U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said there were no talks between the United States and Iran on a prisoner exchange.

Iran said in 2009 it believed 11 Iranians were being held in the United States.

(Writing by Ramin Mostafavi and Parisa Hafezi; Editing by David Stamp)

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Andy Dick to stand trial on W.Va. sex abuse counts (AP)

By HARRY R. WEBER, Associated Press Harry R. Weber, Associated Press – Sat Jul 30, 2:11 am ET

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – A West Virginia judge ordered actor-comedian Andy Dick on Friday to stand trial on felony sexual abuse charges stemming from a nightclub incident last year.

Cabell County Circuit Judge Paul Farrell set trial for Jan. 17 and ordered the entertainer to submit to a urine test. The judge said the test was standard to determine if defendants are positive for drugs, but he also told Dick, "I suspect you may be." Farrell told Dick he would be jailed if he returned to court for a pre-trial hearing in September under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

"I understand. I've been sober," the blond-haired, bespectacled actor, wearing a dark suit and black tie, told the judge.

Prosecutor Sean Hammers said he had no objection to Dick remaining free on bail.

Dick, 45, was not asked to enter a plea. He quickly left the courtroom after the brief hearing and got into an elevator with attorney Marc Williams without speaking to reporters, who peppered Dick with questions.

The comedian is accused of grabbing a bouncer's crotch and groping and kissing a male patron earlier at a Huntington bar in January 2010. He was in town for a performance at the Funny Bone Comedy Club.

Dick has been in trouble with the law several times before.

He's been arrested in California on drug and battery charges, to which he pleaded guilty in 2008, and on charges of being drunk and disorderly in a restaurant in May of this year. A Texas man sued Dick earlier this year, claiming the comedian exposed his genitals at a Dallas performance.

Dick had a long-running stint in the 1990s on NBC's "NewsRadio." He briefly had his own program, "The Andy Dick Show," on MTV. He also has had roles in several movies, including "Dude, Where's My Car?" and "Old School."

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Presidential historian appears in federal court (AP)

BALTIMORE – A presidential historian charged with stealing historical documents and conspiring to take them from state archives in several states will remain in federal custody over the weekend, but a judge allowed his assistant to be released Friday.

At a hearing Monday, a judge will consider the prosecutors' recommendation that Barry Landau, 63, remain in custody. This will allow pretrial officials time to review his case and interview Landau, who appeared in the same blue-and-white-striped, button-down shirt and khakis that he wore to a bail review hearing in Baltimore Circuit Court earlier this week.

Federal prosecutor James G. Warwick said in court Friday that Landau poses a flight risk and might try to access documents that investigators haven't yet found and destroy evidence. Investigators believe that Landau has tried to tamper with witnesses, Warwick said, but he did not want to disclose details.

Prosecutors are looking at additional federal charges, including mail and wire fraud, interstate transportation of stolen goods and theft of government property, Warwick said.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Susan Gauvey approved an agreement Friday that allows Landau's assistant, Jason Savedoff, 24, be released to his mother on $250,000 cash bail. Savedoff, who appeared in a yellow jumpsuit from the Baltimore jail with a slight beard, has surrendered his American and Canadian passports and will stay at an apartment in the Baltimore area.

The men were arrested July 9 after a Maryland Historical Society employee reported Savedoff took a document out of the society's Baltimore library. When police arrived, investigators found 60 documents inside a library locker Savedoff was using, including papers signed by President Abraham Lincoln worth $300,000 and presidential inaugural ball invitations and programs worth $500,000, Baltimore prosecutors have said.

Landau had signed out many of those documents, according to court documents.

The two men were indicted by a federal grand jury Thursday, accused of stealing and selling historical documents that included a Benjamin Franklin letter and speeches by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. They also face state theft charges.

The federal indictment charges the pair with stealing an April 1780 letter from Franklin to John Paul Jones from the New-York Historical Society in March. They are also charged with taking a set of signed inaugural addresses from the FDR presidential library in December and later selling them for $35,000.

U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein has said a nationwide investigation is continuing and encouraged anyone with information about the acquisition or sale of historical items by the two to contact the FBI. Special Agent in Charge Richard A. McFeely called "the scope and notoriety" of the documents seized in this case "truly breathtaking."

Before his arrest, Landau appeared on TV programs and was quoted in news articles, particularly for his knowledge of White House social events and drew upon his extensive collection of souvenirs to write a coffee-table book, "The President's Table: Two Hundred Years of Dining and Diplomacy."

The investigation included a search of the author's museum-like, New York City apartment that's lined with mementos dating back to Washington's presidency, the FBI said. Black-and-white etchings of 19th-century inaugurations hang from the walls, while a cabinet displays presidential goblets, plates and a skeleton key that purportedly fit the front door of the White House during John Adams' administration, according to a 2007 Associated Press article.

In the wake of the arrests, institutions across the country are reviewing their vulnerabilities. They often have limited money and must balance security measures against giving access to the public.

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Jeffs threatens court with Biblical repercussions (AP)

SAN ANGELO, Texas – A polygamist sect leader defending himself against sexual assault charges broke his silence Friday with a 55-minute sermon defending plural marriages as divine and later said God would visit "sickness and death" on those involved if his trial wasn't immediately stopped.

Warren Jeffs, 55, could face life in prison if he's convicted of sexually assaulting two underage girls. He has been representing himself since he fired his high-powered lawyers Thursday, but he made no opening statement and spent hours sitting alone at the defense table staring into space in silence while prosecutors made their case.

On Friday, however, the ecclesiastical head of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints suddenly cried "I object!" as FBI agent John Broadway testified about seizing eight desktop computers and 120 boxes and large folders of documents from the church's remote compound in West Texas in 2008.

"There is sacred trust given to religious leadership not to be touched by government agencies," said Jeffs, who leads an offshoot of mainstream Mormonism that believes polygamy brings exaltation in heaven. The sect's 10,000 members see Jeffs as a prophet who speaks for God on Earth.

Jeffs then launched into a lengthy defense of polygamy, but Walther eventually overruled his objection. She said court rules prohibited him from testifying while objecting but she let him go on at length because he hadn't offered an opening statement.

Jeffs then said he had no choice but to read a statement from God. Walther dismissed the jury and allowed him to read it.

"I, the Lord God of heaven," Jeffs read, "call upon the court to cease this open prosecution against my pure, holy way."

If the trial continues, the statement said, "I will send a scourge upon the counties of prosecutorial zeal to make humbled by sickness and death."

Jeffs has frequently said the charges against him are the work of over-zealous prosecutors.

Walther responded to the statement by telling Jeffs he could not threaten the jury.

"If you call for their destruction," she said, "or in any way say that they will be injured or damaged because of their service, you will be removed from the courtroom."

During afternoon testimony from Broadway and other witnesses who detailed documents seized from the FLDS compound, Jeffs objected so much that Walther eventually had a bailiff remove his microphones.

It was a sharp contrast to his earlier silence and halting speech. When answering questions from Walther earlier in the week, Jeffs usually paused for a full minute or two and then spoke in slow, deliberate tones interrupted by long, awkward pauses. But his words flowed freely Friday.

Jeffs, who is schedule for trial on bigamy charges in October, said his church has practiced polygamy for five generations and believes it is the will of God, who is a higher power than courts, state legislatures and the U.S. Congress.

"We are not a fly-by-night religious society . . . We are a community of faith and principles and those principles are so sacred. They belong to God, not to man and the governments of man," Jeffs said. He also noted that polygamy "is not of a sudden happening, it is of a tradition in our lives. And how can we just throw it away and say `God has not spoken?'"

Jeffs said FLDS members believe adhering to God's will, as stated by prophets like himself, is the only way to achieve eternal life in "Zion," or heaven.

"We do not seek your salvation," Jeffs told Walther and jurors, who watched and listened intently but made no visible reaction to his words. The judge turned down his repeated pleas for a separate hearing on freedom of religion.

Jeffs said Texas authorities had unfairly persecuted the FLDS just because its members are different from those of mainstream religions. Women in the sect wear prairie-style dresses and keep their hair tied up in tight buns that conjure images of frontier times.

"We are derided for how we dress, how we go about our laborers in a common society," he said. "The government of the United States had no right to infringe on the religious freedom of a peaceful people."

Jeffs said the courts and society are "not understanding our religious faith, yet judging it."

At the end of his speech, lead prosecutor Eric Nichols rose and said the Supreme Court ruled in the 1890s that religious freedom does not extend to polygamy.

The FLDS made headlines nationwide in 2008, when authorities raided its compound in tiny Eldorado, about 45 miles from San Angelo, after hearing allegations that young girls were being forced into polygamist marriages. More than 400 children were seized temporarily but eventually returned to their families.

Still, Jeffs and 11 other FLDS men were charged with crimes including sexual assault and bigamy.

All seven sect members prosecuted so far have been convicted and given prison terms of between six and 75 years.

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Analysis: Former prosecutors weigh in on Strauss-Kahn case (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Even by the standards of a salacious and unpredictable international scandal, it was a whirlwind week in the Dominique Strauss-Kahn sexual assault case.

On Sunday, Strauss-Kahn's accuser, Nafissatou Diallo, 32, broke her silence and anonymity, telling the world in televised and print interviews her version of the incident with the former International Monetary Fund chief. Diallo, a hotel maid, alleges Strauss-Kahn forced her to perform oral sex on him and attempted to rape her at an upscale Manhattan hotel on May 14.

Strauss-Kahn, 62, who had been seen as a possible French president, has denied any wrongdoing.

On Tuesday, prosecutors requested and received a second postponement of the next court date in the case, originally scheduled for July 16. It is now scheduled for August 23.

On Wednesday, Diallo met with prosecutors behind closed doors for more than eight hours.

The next day, a tearful Diallo appeared before a sea of cameras in a Brooklyn church, as her attorney accused prosecutors of abandoning her.

Yet through all the dizzying developments, the case remains in limbo. Despite speculation the prosecution would collapse after significant doubts arose regarding Diallo's credibility, a spokesperson for Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. insisted the office was still investigating.

Interviews with eight former Manhattan prosecutors found agreement the case was an uphill climb, but no clear consensus on whether Vance should -- or would -- continue to prosecute Strauss-Kahn.

"Every juror has to be convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that she's telling the truth," said Bennett Gershman, a former Manhattan prosecutor and a law professor at Pace University. "The burden is enormous on the prosecutor. Do they want to go ahead with a case that seems so difficult?"

'TREASURE TROVE' FOR DEFENSE

Several former prosecutors said the decision to allow Diallo to speak publicly about the incident could create inconsistencies the defense would try to exploit at trial. Her credibility is already under siege after prosecutors said she lied about her past and about the immediate aftermath of the alleged attack.

"You're creating a treasure trove of material for the defense to dig into," said Jeremy Saland, a defense lawyer who worked as a prosecutor under Vance's predecessor, Robert Morgenthau.

Others have suggested that the media appearances show that Diallo's attorney, Kenneth Thompson, no longer believes the criminal case will hold up. Thompson argued on Thursday that she was forced to come forward to counter "lies" about her, including a report in the New York Post claiming she worked as a prostitute. Diallo has sued the Post for libel over that report.

The publicity could also backfire if it appears to be an effort to extract money from Strauss-Kahn to settle a potential civil lawsuit. Thompson has said she will file a civil claim soon.

Thompson's comments seemed to reflect his own uncertainty over whether the criminal case will proceed.

On Wednesday, following Diallo's meeting with prosecutors, Thompson said the discussion "went well." When questioned on Thursday about that assessment, he appeared to backtrack.

"You know, yesterday when I said it went well, I think that you read too much into that," he said in response to a reporter's question. "It was a meeting, I got out of it, I came outside. I don't know what the district attorney will do."

'PRETTY IMPRESSIVE SHOW'

But some observers say the media blitz could succeed in bringing pressure to bear on Vance's office.

"My sense is that they want to be done with it and they want to dismiss it," said one former city prosecutor who did not want to be named. "But, having said that, the victim has put on a pretty impressive show this past week."

John Moscow, the former deputy chief of the district attorney's investigations division, said the physical evidence was strongly suggestive of a forced encounter. That could be enough to overcome doubts about her credibility, Moscow said.

"Here's how I look at it: if she were run over by a car, would you still have a case?" he said. "Yes, you would. I just don't see any reason at all not to go forward."

Matthew Galluzzo, a former Manhattan sex-crimes prosecutor, said Diallo's story about being gang-raped in her home country of Guinea, which she later admitted was inaccurate, could be devastating to the case.

But Daniel Bibb, another former prosecutor, said jurors could forgive her, since she apparently told it to gain political asylum and entry into the United States.

"In the average rape case, I would say that discovery of a prior false allegation of rape is fatal to the prosecution," he said. "In this case, I'm not so sure, simply because her motives in claiming rape were not malicious."

Even if Vance goes ahead with the prosecution, former prosecutors say a conviction of Strauss-Kahn will be hard to secure.

"If what I've read and seen is accurate, it appears to me that this case will ultimately be dismissed," Saland said.

But like most of the prosecutors interviewed, Bibb warned it was impossible to assess from the outside whether the case will continue.

"I don't know what the right decision is," he said. "I don't have all the facts."

(Reporting by Joseph Ax and Noeleen Walder; Editing by Jesse Wegman and Peter Cooney)

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Lawyer: 2 Americans held in Iran could be released (AP)

TEHRAN, Iran – The lawyer for two Americans jailed in Iran on charges of espionage says his clients could be released after a court hearing slated for Sunday.

Masoud Shafiei said Saturday the fact that the session in the trial of Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal would coincide with the second anniversary of their arrest may indicate that they will be freed.

There also is a tradition in the Muslim world of pardoning prisoners for the holy month of Ramadan, which starts early next week.

Bauer and Fattal have been jailed since July 2009. Bauer's fiance, Sarah Shourd, was arrested with them but released last year on $500,000 bail.

The Americans deny the charges and say they were only hiking in a scenic area of northern Iraq near the Iranian border.

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Comic Andy Dick pleads not guilty to sex abuse charges (Reuters)

CHARLESTON, West Virginia (Reuters) – Comedian Andy Dick pleaded not guilty on Friday to charges he sexually abused a security guard and another man at a West Virginia bar by grabbing their crotches.

The case marks the latest in a long string of legal entanglements for Dick, who was a regular cast member on the 1990s television comedy "NewsRadio" but has since struggled with substance abuse problems.

Dick pleaded not guilty to two counts of sexual abuse before Cabell County Circuit Judge Paul Ferrell in Huntington, West Virginia, according to the local prosecutor's office.

He is accused of groping the two men at the Huntington bar in January 2010. The charge of sexual abuse carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

In 2008 Dick pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of battery and possession of marijuana stemming from an incident in which police said he pulled down the top of a 17-year-old girl in Southern California.

Dick, who sports curly blond hair and rectangular glasses, has had several other brushes with the law in recent years. He made a guest appearance earlier this year on the NBC comedy "Community."

(Reporting by Steven Adams, Writing by Alex Dobuzinskis: Editing by Steve Gorman)

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Defendants rest case in Alabama corruption trial (AP)

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The nine defendants in a corruption trial involving Alabama gambling legislation are resting their case after calling just one defense witness.

The defendants include current and former legislators, lobbyists and casino owners. They are accused in a scheme to buy and sell votes on a bill to legalize electronic bingo in Alabama.

Prosecutors based much of their case on wiretaps of telephone conversations. Three legislators who wore wires testified they felt they were being offered money to vote for the bill, but defense attorneys say they did not hear any talk of bribes being offered to legislators.

The judge will hear arguments Monday from defense attorneys who want the charges dismissed. Closing arguments are expected Wednesday.

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400 attend roller rink shooting victims' funeral (AP)

BARLING, Ark. – Four siblings killed in a shooting rampage at a Texas roller rink were remembered Saturday as a part of a tight-knit family, even as the hundreds gathered in an Arkansas church to mourn them tried to make sense of the tragedy.

More than 400 people attended a service for Trini Do, 29, her sisters, Lynn Ta, 16, and Michelle Ta, 28, and her brother, Hien Ta, 21. Trini Do's estranged husband, Tan Do, 35, shot her and her siblings during a birthday party for their 11-year-old son and then killed himself.

Police in Grand Prairie, Texas, have said they believe the shooting was planned and followed years of domestic violence. Trini Do received a protective order in December against her husband, but she had it withdrawn earlier this year against a prosecutor's advice and wanted to give him another chance, an aunt has said.

The fifth victim in the shooting rampage, Thuy Nguyen, 25, was Trini Do's sister-in-law. She will be buried in Vietnam.

Four others were wounded in the rampage, but police said their injuries were not life-threatening.

The siblings' deaths have shaken the immigrant community in western Arkansas, where more than 1,300 Vietnamese live in the Fort Smith area. Trini Do and her siblings moved to Fort Smith from Vietnam in 1994.

Their friends and relatives gathered Saturday in the Sacred Heart of Mary Church in nearby Barling. A choir performed a hymn in Vietnamese entitled "Coming Home" as the caskets were escorted into the auditorium. Children carried framed photos of the dead, and a procession of relatives followed. Many youth tied white strips of cloth around their foreheads as a sign of respect.

The Rev. Peter Quang Le, in a homily delivered primarily in Vietnamese, described how many were still in disbelief after the shootings, even after seeing the bodies of the dead.

"We cannot understand it," he said.

Le asked the audience not to be angry or seek revenge, but to pray for the victims and their family.

"The psychological wounds because of violence in the minds of (the Ta) family will endure all their lives," he said.

Everyone in the auditorium stood, raised their right hand and turned toward Le as he touched the chest of Hoi Ta, the siblings' father, and prayed. Ta stood in silence, his arms crossed and his shirt sleeves rolled.

When the caskets were opened at the end of the service, Hoi Ta led a long line of mourners to the bodies. He leaned into the faces of his children and whispered a few quiet words to each.

Trini Do's aunt, Janice Tran, and other relatives remembered her as a good-natured person who worked two jobs and loved to travel.

"When you talked to her, you know what kind of person (she was)," Tran said.

Relatives remembered Lynn Ta, who attended a Fort Smith high school, for her smile and passion for taking photos with her friends. Michelle Ta loved to shop and cook, they said. Hien Ta was an avid swimmer and basketball player.

The siblings were among about 30 friends and family who attended the private party at the rented roller rink. A DJ at the rink told The Associated Press that guests had just finished singing "Happy Birthday" to the couple's son when Tan Do spoke to him briefly, then pulled out a gun and shot Trini Do and her relatives.

One of Trini Do's four surviving siblings was wounded in the rampage and remains hospitalized, Tran said. Trini and Tran Do's son and his 3-year-old sister were not injured in the shootings and have been in the care of other relatives. Tran said they were at the funeral.

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Ex-Akamai worker to plead guilty to spy charge (AP)

BOSTON – A former employee of a website content delivery company has agreed to plead guilty to a charge of foreign economic espionage for providing company trade secrets to an undercover FBI agent posing as an Israeli intelligence officer, federal prosecutors announced Thursday.

Elliot Doxer, 42, will admit to providing trade secrets from Cambridge-based Akamai Technologies Inc. over an 18-month period to the agent, whom he believed was an Israeli spy, the U.S. Attorney's Office for Massachusetts said in a statement. A plea hearing is scheduled for Aug. 29.

Doxer's attorney, Thomas J. Butters, did not return messages left after business hours Thursday.

Doxer, of Brookline, worked in Akamai's finance department at the time he committed the alleged offenses. Prosecutors said he sent an email to the Israeli consulate in June 2006 and offered to provide any information he had access to in order to help that country in exchange for $3,000.

Doxer said his main goal was "to help our homeland and our war against our enemies," prosecutors said.

Israeli officials contacted U.S. authorities about the offer. An FBI agent went undercover and posed as an Israeli agent in September 2007, and arranged to use a "dead drop" location to exchange information with Doxer to avoid detection. From then until March 2009, Doxer visited the drop location at least 62 times and provided an extensive list of Akamai's customers and employees, including their full contact information, and contract details, according to prosecutors.

He also allegedly described Akamai's physical and computer security systems and said he could travel to Israel and support special operations in his local area if needed.

Akamai previously said that it had cooperated with the FBI. The firm also noted that there is no evidence that Doxer actually gave information to a foreign government.

Authorities arrested Doxer in August and charged him with one count of wire fraud. That charge will be dismissed as part of the plea agreement.

The espionage charge carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison, a three-year term of supervised release and a $500,000 fine.

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Anthony attorney denies interview negotiations (AP)

ORLANDO, Fla. – The lead defense attorney in the murder trial of Casey Anthony denies reports that he is negotiating deals for a paid interview with his client.

A one-sentence statement attributed to Jose Baez and released through New York-based RMT PR Management on Friday says: "Contrary to recent published reports, I am not negotiating any paid interviews with anyone."

Reports of interview negotiations have been rampant since Anthony's release from jail on July 13. She was acquitted of murdering her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee, on July 5, but convicted of four counts of lying to police.

Anthony left the Orange County Jail with Baez and has not been seen in public since.

At least one television producer claims to have met with Baez about a paid interview.

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Judge nixes Winklevoss twin's Facebook lawsuit (AFP)

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) – A US judge on Friday blocked the latest courtroom campaign by Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss to undo a deal they made to settle a squabble over who came up with the idea for Facebook.

US District Judge Douglas Woodlock in Boston granted a request by Facebook that the case there be dismissed. The judge's terse written order did not outline the reasoning behind his decision.

The twin brothers and fellow ConnectU founder Divya Narendra last month ramped up litigation in Massachusetts accusing Facebook of duping them in a deal they made in a lawsuit charging that Mark Zuckerberg stole their idea.

Lawyers for the Winklevosses tried to renew the languishing civil case in Boston after similarly-themed litigation failed in California and they opted not to appeal it to the Supreme Court.

"These are old and baseless allegations that have been considered and rejected previously by the courts," Facebook attorney Neel Chatterjee said when the litigation in Boston was revived.

The Winklevoss lawyers were expected to ask that the Boston case be reopened on the basis of a rule allowing that to happen if key information has been withheld.

The twins have argued that Facebook held back information about the California-based social networking firm while reaching a $65 million settlement with the brothers.

The twins inked a settlement two years ago that got them $20 million in cash and $45 million worth of stock valued at $36 per share.

The value of that yet-to-be-issued stock has skyrocketed along with Facebook's estimated market value.

The US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in May rejected a bid by the identical twin brothers to have a full panel of 11 judges second guess a ruling made by a three-justice panel.

The three-judge panel said that litigation in the case "must come to an end" and threw out the bid by the Winklevosses to review the settlement.

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Fugitive businessman Lai deported to China (AFP)

BEIJING (AFP) – Fugitive Chinese businessman Lai Changxing arrived back in Beijing on Saturday after being deported from Canada, ending a 12-year legal and diplomatic tug-of-war that tested the countries' relations.

Lai landed in the Chinese capital aboard a civilian flight in the custody of Canadian police and was handed over to authorities who arrested him, state television said, quoting a Ministry of Public Security statement.

China's Xinhua news agency had reported earlier that Lai had been flown from the Canadian west coast city of Vancouver.

Canadian authorities moved swiftly to return Lai after a federal court on Thursday ruled he should be deported -- a move blocked for years by Canada's courts and refugee board out of fear he could be executed or tortured.

Canada, which does not have capital punishment, bans the return of prisoners to countries where they might be put to death.

But China has issued an unusual promise not to execute Lai -- believed to be 52 -- if he is tried and found guilty.

Lai's repatriation marks a victory for Beijing, which had tried for more than a decade to secure his return -- and the removal of a diplomatic headache for Ottawa.

Lai is accused of running a smuggling ring in southeastern China's Fujian province that moved contraband variously estimated to be worth between $6 billion and $10 billion.

China's state-run media said it could prove to be the largest case of economic crime in the country since the Communists took over in 1949.

Lai fled to Canada with his family in 1999 after the case emerged, rocking Fujian's political establishment and leading to the dismissal or arrest of a number of officials there implicated in alleged wrongdoing.

Lai sought asylum in Canada, where he arrived on a tourist visa with his then wife, two sons and a daughter, saying the Chinese accusations against him were politically motivated.

The businessman's lawyers have argued that several of his associates have died or vanished in China's justice system.

But he has been called a "common criminal" by politicians and judges in Canada.

The Chinese foreign ministry said in a statement on Friday that it "welcomed" the court move to authorise his deportation, calling Lai the "primary criminal suspect" in the case.

The statement also said Beijing "has held a very clear position on repatriating Lai to be tried according to the law".

Lai will now likely face a trial in China and a lengthy prison sentence if convicted. Xinhua quoted Chinese legal experts saying he would not face execution.

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Jury finds Anthony Sowell guilty of 11 murders (Reuters)

CLEVELAND (Reuters) – A Cleveland jury on Friday found ex-Marine and convicted rapist Anthony Sowell guilty of the serial killing of 11 women whose decomposed remains were found in and around his home.

Sowell, 51, faces the possibility of the death penalty.

Many of the victims had histories of drug problems or were transients, and their disappearances were not always immediately reported to police. Sowell, who had a previous conviction for raping a pregnant woman, had claimed that bad smells in the area came from a nearby sausage factory.

Police discovered the first two bodies in 2009 after executing a search warrant for Sowell's arrest in response to an assault and rape charge.

In total, more women's bodies were found in and around Sowell's Cleveland house.

Two were found on the third floor, partially covered; one was in a plastic bag in pieces; another was covered with dirt in a crawl space. Two bodies were found in the basement -- one covered in dirt under the stairs, and one skull wrapped in plastic in a red bucket.

Five bodies were found in the backyard, all wrapped in plastic in shallow graves.

Sowell came to live in the Imperial Avenue house with his stepmother after serving 15 years in prison for rape. A balding man with glasses of medium height, he was described by neighbors as helpful, and a snappy dresser.

The first of the 11 homicides occurred in the house in 2007. The house had tenants who moved out after complaining about the smell.

Sowell was arrested shortly after one surviving victim jumped naked out of a window after being raped. At first, she claimed she had been in a car accident, but later told police she was attacked after seeing the bodies recovered from his house.

After police took Sowell in for questioning, he was told about six bodies found at his house and one in the backyard. Sowell responded, "Oh, those," using the plural when only one body had been found in the backyard at the time, according to police testimony.

In a videotaped interrogation by police, Sowell talked about meeting women and bringing them to his house. But he never gives any details about what happened to them or how their remains came to be in his house. "Maybe all I did was strangle ... that's what I did," he says.

Most of the victims were strangled. Some victims were so badly decomposed that the cause of death could not be determined.

The jury found Sowell guilty on 82 of 83 counts -- the not guilty on a single charge of stealing $11 from a surviving assault victim.

A fierce thunderstorm raged outside the courtroom windows as the verdicts were read. Some family members of victims wept, while others nodded their heads in agreement with the guilty counts.

Sowell blinked rapidly but otherwise showed no emotion as the verdicts were read.

After he was told of his right to appeal, he refused to look at Judge Dick Ambrose, and yawned. As he left the courtroom, he put his fists up in the air.

In closing arguments, the prosecution called Sowell a "vile and disgusting" serial killer. The 62 prosecution witnesses included women who said they had fled Sowell's house after being attacked.

One prosecution witness was Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson's niece, Lori Frazier, an ex-girlfriend of Sowell, who said he suffered a series of suspicious injuries. Once she saw a deep gash across his head and blood on the floor and walls that he said were the result of a struggle with an intruder.

Family members of some victims have filed suit against the city, complaining about the police's handling of the case. The father of one of the victims said his concerns were dismissed by police because of his daughter's history of drug use.

The defense called no witnesses, but criticized the state's handling of the crime scene investigation and some of the women who testified against Sowell.

The murder victims are Diane Turner, Telacia Fortson, Janice Webb, Nancy Cobbs, Tonia Carmichael, Tishana Culver, Leshanda Long, Amelda Hunter, Michelle Mason, Crystal Dozier and Kim Smith.

Jurors deliberated for about 15 hours before reaching a verdict. On August 1 begins the mitigation phase of the trial, when the jury must determine whether Sowell should be expected.

(Writing by Mary Wisniewski; Reporting by Kim Palmer; Editing by Greg McCune)

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Teenagers swam for their lives in Norway carnage (Reuters)

NESLANDET, Norway (Reuters) – Norwegian teenagers at a lakeside summer camp fled screaming in panic, many leaping into the water to save themselves, when an attacker dressed as a policeman began spraying them with gunfire.

Police said at least 10 of the youngsters, attending a camp run by the governing Labour Party, were killed in Friday's attack, shortly after a blast in the capital Oslo killed seven people in Western Europe's worst bombing since 2005.

"I just saw people jumping into the water, about 50 people swimming toward the shore. People were crying, shaking, they were terrified," said Anita Lien, 42, who lives by Tyrifjord lake, a few hundred meters (yards) from Utoeya island, northwest of Oslo.

"They were so young, between 14 and 19 years old," she said.

Utoeya is an island about 500 meters long, clad with pine trees. Lien said the shooting sounded like automatic gunfire.

A camp guard, Simen Braenden Mortensen, said that the gunman had tricked his way onto the island by posing as a policeman driving a silver grey car.

"He gets out of the car and shows ID, says he's sent there to check security, that that is purely routine in connection with the terror attack (in Oslo)," Mortensen told the daily Verdens Gang.

"It all looks fine, and a boat is called and it carries him over to Utoeya. A few minutes passed, then we heard shots," he said.

A teenaged boy who witnessed the attack from the mainland told Britain's Sky Television: "We heard people screaming, it was horrible...Some were waving at us from the island."

Police said they had found undetonated explosives on the island. They said the gunman, whom they described as ethnic Norwegian, may also have been involved in planting the bomb in Oslo.

Early on Saturday, an ambulance left the lake area, with a body lying on a stretcher inside. Cars with distraught relatives were heading to a nearby hotel hoping to meet loved ones evacuated from the island.

Police and dogs were still searching the island and lake overnight from boats and helicopters, with ambulances on standby. Searchlights slowly swept the water in the dark.

People living by the lake got into boats to try to evacuate people from the water. "I used my boat to ferry a lot of people from the island, I saw many wounded people," said a local man who said he lived in a white house by the lake.

(Writing by Alister Doyle and Anna Ringstrom, Editing by Mark Trevelyan)

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Witness: Sergeant bragged of killing unarmed man (AP)

JOINT BASE LEWIS-McCHORD, Wash. – A soldier accused of masterminding the murders of three Afghan civilians last year boasted about one of the killings, an Army medic testified Friday.

Pvt. Robert Stevens told an investigating officer during a hearing at Joint Base Lewis-McChord south of Seattle that Staff Sgt. Calvin Gibbs of Billings, Mont., acknowledged participating in the February 2010 killing, The News Tribune newspaper reported.

The victim has previously been described as a random civilian target, but Stevens, of Portland, Ore., testified that Gibbs said he suspected the unarmed man was involved in the Taliban and that Gibbs was "sick of picking him up and letting him go."

Stevens said Gibbs recounted how he fired off a couple rounds from an AK-47 he had illicitly obtained, kicked the weapon toward the Afghan, and then shot him with his Army-issued M4 rifle. The placement of the AK-47 near the victim was intended to make him appear to have been a combatant.

Those details generally back up an account of the shooting given by the government's key witness, Pvt. Jeremy Morlock, of Wasilla, Alaska. Morlock has admitted being involved in all three killings and testified Thursday that it was Gibbs' idea to start killing civilians. Morlock has been sentenced to 24 years in prison.

Gibbs and Morlock are among five soldiers charged in the killings in Kandahar Province. Gibbs is also charged with keeping severed fingers from the dead and other misconduct, including leading others in beating up a soldier who reported drug use in the unit.

He denies the charges and maintains the killings were appropriate engagements.

Stevens has described himself as a close friend of Gibbs at the time of the killings and said that although he was in a different unit, Gibbs frequently suggested that Stevens join him on patrols. During one of those patrols, he said in a sworn statement previously given to investigators, Gibbs ordered him and others to fire at two unarmed men in a field. They missed.

"When SSG Gibbs called for us to fire I knew there was not a threat, and that there was no reason to shoot these guys," Stevens said in the statement. "I was extremely thankful to find out that we had not killed or wounded either of those two individuals, and I regret not trying to stop Staff Sgt. Gibbs from trying to kill innocent people."

Stevens pleaded guilty in December to charges stemming from that shooting and other misconduct allegations in a deal that called for him to serve nine months in prison, be demoted from staff sergeant to private, and testify against other defendants.

Stevens also said Gibbs had shown him a finger he claimed to have cut from the body of an Afghan National Army or Afghan National Police member killed by a roadside bomb, and that Gibbs illicitly collected weapons. Others claimed that Gibbs dropped such weapons near the bodies of civilians to make them appear to have been combatants.

The testimony Friday came as part of a preliminary hearing that will help determine what charges against Gibbs advance to a court martial in early October.

Gibbs' attorney sought to cast doubt on Stevens' testimony by citing his original statement to Army investigators. In that document, Stevens denied any knowledge of Gibbs' wrongdoing.

Stevens testified that he changed his story four days later when Army investigators told him — falsely — that Gibbs had confessed.

The newspaper reports that Morlock and another Stryker soldier, Pvt. Emmitt Quintal of Weston, Ore., disclosed in court this week that they smoked hashish together several times after they had been detained for investigation in Afghanistan. Both received plea agreements to testify in the "kill team" investigation.

Defense lawyers hope to suggest that the soldiers ironed out their stories together while they shared housing, giving them an opportunity to lay the blame on their platoon mates.

Quintal said Friday they smoked hashish together multiple times in the first weeks of the Army investigation, but he said they didn't talk about the details of the case in that period.

On Thursday, Morlock said they didn't talk about straightening out their stories before speaking with Army investigators.

Quintal was given a bad conduct discharge and 90 days hard labor after pleading guilty to using drugs during his deployment and assaulting a soldier who blew the whistle on platoon misconduct.

___

Information from: The News Tribune, http://www.thenewstribune.com

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US court rules government can keep rare coins (AFP)

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (AFP) – The US government can keep 10 rare gold coins seized from the descendants of a Philadelphia jeweler amid allegations that they had been stolen, a federal jury has ruled.

The jury decided Thursday that the government had proven its claim that the coins, valued at $75 million, were removed from the US Mint without permission nearly seven decades ago.

The government contends the 10 coins were stolen because the 1933 Double Eagles, worth $20 when they were minted, were never authorized for circulation.

But lawyers for the descendants of Israel Switt argued that nobody knows exactly how their father came to possess the coins.

Authorities believed they had destroyed nearly all of the 455,000 coins that were minted, as part of the US efforts to go off the gold standard.

But a few of the coins turned up over the years, all of them traced to back to Switt, a Philadelphia jeweler.

In the 1940s, authorities believed that all but one of Switt's coins had been tracked down and destroyed.

What was believed to be the last coin found its way into the collection of Egypt's King Farouk, and was later sold at auction for $7.5 million.

But in 2004, Switt's daughter, Joan Langbord, approached the US Treasury with 10 more of the coins she said were found in her late-father's safe deposit box.

The government seized the coins, saying there was no way the coins could have been legally removed from the Mint's vaults.

Langbord, and her sons David and Roy sued, saying nobody truly knew how the coins left the vault.

Since the government could not prove the coins were stolen, the family had argued their constitutional rights to the property had been violated. Appeals in the case are expected.

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Canadian court rules to deport Chinese fugitive (AFP)

VANCOUVER (AFP) – A Canadian court cleared the way for China's most-wanted fugitive Lai Changxing to be sent home to face expected criminal charges.

"The life of the applicant is in the Chinese Government's hands," the court ruled, citing a Chinese proverb.

China earlier promised not to sentence Lai to death if he is tried and found guilty. Canada, which does not practice capital punishment, prohibits the return of prisoners to countries where they might be put to death.

There was no immediate word from Lai's lawyers about whether the court ruling will be appealed.

Lai remained behind bars Thursday night, after a separate court ruling overturned an order by the Immigration and Refugee Board to release him.

Canadian officials told the court Lai could be sent home as early as the weekend.

If an appeal is not launched, or fails, the ruling will end Lai's 12-year battle to remain in Canada. The case has soured diplomatic relations between the two countries, and pitted Western ideas about human rights against China's treatment of prisoners.

Canada's government has repeatedly tried to send Lai to China, but the independent courts and Immigration and Refugee board had blocked his deportation until now on human rights grounds.

Lai fled here with his family in 1999 after being accused in China of running a $6 billion (US) smuggling ring in Fujian province. His lawyers say at least seven of his associates have died or vanished in China's justice system.

Earlier this month, a key risk assessment by immigration officials cleared the way for his return, after they ruled Lai would not risk death or torture if sent home to China. Thursday's ruling rejected the prisoner's appeal of that risk assessment.

His lawyer, well-known human rights advocate David Matas, has warned repeatedly that Lai would risk death or torture in China, despite the country's unusual diplomatic assurances to Canada.

Matas noted in a court filing that China has promised "access to a lawyer, permission of a Canadian official to be present at the hearing of the applicant, Canadian official access to recordings of interrogations and hearings, and permission for Canadian officials to visit the applicant in prison, mitigating risk of abuse."

But, he added, "these four assurances amount to nothing."

The court apparently disagreed.

The ruling, emailed Thursday night to reporters, cited China's much-criticized record on its treatment of other prisoners and noted they "are detained together indiscriminately."

However, "it is assumed that the assurances of the Chinese government... will be kept," the court added.

The ruling said China's "honor and face" would be at stake during the lifetime monitoring of Lai.

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Goran Hadzic transfered to UN custody (AFP)

THE HAGUE (AFP) – Serbia on Friday handed over former Croatian Serb rebel leader Goran Hadzic to the UN tribunal that will try him for warcrimes -- the last of the court's wanted fugitives.

Hadzic, wanted on 14 charges for his role in the 1991-95 Croatian war, will face a single judge before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in a preliminary appearance on Monday.

"Goran Hadzic ... was today transferred to the tribunal's custody, after having been at large for almost seven years," the ICTY said in a statement.

"Hadzic ... has been admitted to the UN detention unit in The Hague."

A plane transporting the erstwhile leader of the self-proclaimed Republic of Serbian Krajina during the early 1990s, touched down at Rotterdam airport shortly after 2:30 pm (1230 GMT), Dutch news agency ANP reported.

Serbian Justice Minister Snezana Malovic earlier Friday signed an official order authorising his transfer to the ICTY.

The tribunal has charged Hadzic of war crimes and crimes against humanity, accusing him of having overseen the murders of hundreds of civilians and the deportation of tens of thousands of Croats during the war.

"Hadzic will be called upon to answer for the deaths of hundreds and the displacement of thousands," ICTY prosecutor Serge Brammertz told journalists on Friday afternoon.

The one-time warehouse worker is the last of 161 persons indicted by the ICTY to be arrested. The court was established in 1993 to try war crimes committed during the 1990s Balkans war.

Hadzic was arrested Wednesday by Serbia in the idyllic mountain region of Fruska Gora near the northern city of Novi Sad.

His arrest came less than two months after Serbian authorities finally captured wartime Bosnian Serb army chief Ratko Mladic, the court's most wanted fugitive.

He is wanted mainly for his alleged involvement in the massacre by Croatian Serb troops of some 264 Croats and other non-Serbs taken from a hospital in Vukovar after the city fell to Serbian troops in November 1991 following a three-month siege.

Charges against him also include overseeing attacks on Croatian towns, villages and settlements by Serb forces, including those commanded by the notorious Zeljko Raznatovic -- better known as "Arkan's Tigers."

Hadzic is also charged over his alleged involvement in the deportation and inhumane imprisonment of thousands of Croats and other non-Serbs.

The tribunal's registrar said Hadzic would make an initial appearance before an ICTY judge on Monday afternoon.

"The initial appearance (of Hadzic) will be led by Mr (Judge) O-Gon Kwon on Monday" at 4:00 pm (1400 GMT)," registrar John Hocking told journalists in The Hague.

Prosecutor Brammertz said: "for many, Hadzic's arrest may not rank alongside the arrests of Milosevic, Karadzic or Mladic," referring to the three Serbian strongmen believed most responsible for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in the wars in former Yugoslavia.

"However, Hadzic was a senior political figure during the conflict in the former Yugoslavia and the crimes charged against him are extensive and grave," Brammertz said.

"With Goran Hadzic now in custody, we will turn our full attention to the completion of our remaining trials and appeals."

Brammertz added that by arresting Hadzic, Serbian authorities had fulfilled a "key international obligation", but he said the case on how Hadzic managed to evade justice was not closed.

"We look forward to receiving additional information about how he was able to evade justice for the last seven years," said Brammertz.

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Alleged Army ringleader in Afghan murders faces accuser (Reuters)

By Laura L. Myers Laura L. Myers – Thu Jul 21, 10:52 pm ET

TACOMA, Wash (Reuters) – The U.S. Army sergeant charged with murdering unarmed Afghan civilians as ringleader of a rogue combat platoon faced his chief accuser in a military court on Thursday, a soldier who pleaded guilty earlier this year to three killings.

Staff Sergeant Calvin Gibbs was back in court for a reopened Article 32 hearing, a military justice proceeding roughly equivalent to a grand jury session that determines whether a case gets referred to court-martial for trial.

Prosecutors have cast Gibbs, 26, of Billings, Montana, as the main instigator behind the most serious case of alleged U.S. military atrocities in 10 years of war in Afghanistan.

He is one of five soldiers from the infantry unit formerly known as the 5th Stryker Brigade charged with killing innocent Afghan villagers in cold blood while deployed last year in Kandahar province.

Seven other soldiers were charged with lesser offenses stemming from the investigation, which began as a probe of rampant hashish abuse among the soldiers.

The Stryker Brigade cases, with scores of photographs seized as evidence but sealed from public view by the military, have drawn comparisons to the inflammatory 2004 Abu Ghraib prison scandal in Iraq.

Gibbs was ordered in January to stand trial on three counts of premeditated murder and other offenses. They include charges he beat up a fellow soldier, tried to obstruct an investigation and collected fingers and other body parts from Afghan corpses as war trophies.

An Army judge at Joint Base Lewis-McChord near Tacoma granted a defense request to reopen the Article 32 inquiry to give Gibbs' lawyers a chance to cross-examine witnesses who were not previously made available for questioning.

The most anticipated testimony on Thursday came from Army Specialist Jeremy Morlock, 23, sentenced in March to 24 years in prison after pleading guilty to three counts of murder for his role in the same killings in which Gibbs is accused.

'DROP WEAPON'

Echoing previous statements to military investigators in the case, Morlock recounted incidents in which he said Gibbs opened fire on innocent, unarmed Afghans during encounters staged to appear as legitimate combat engagements.

In one such killing, Morlock said, Gibbs planted an AK-47 assault rifle that he carried around as a "drop weapon." In another, he testified, Gibbs tossed a Russian-style hand grenade as he opened fire on his victim to leave the impression that their patrol had come under attack. Morlock later added that he then moved the unexploded grenade closer to the body.

"The idea was to go out and find someone to plant an AK-47 on and say, 'We got shot at,'" said Morlock, whom prosecutors have described as Gibbs' right-hand man in their platoon.

Gibbs sat silently through the eight-hour hearing, seeming alert but largely at ease, even as he stared intently at Morlock during his accuser's testimony. Morlock avoided looking at Gibbs, and the two men never appeared to make eye contact during Morlock's 3-1/2 hours on the witness stand.

During two hours of cross-examination intended by defense lawyer Phillip Stackhouse to undermine Morlock's credibility, Morlock acknowledged a history of alcohol and drug dependence. He also admitted, as he has before, to burning his ex-wife with a cigarette during a bar fight and getting into trouble with the Army for having women in his barracks after hours.

But Gibbs' platoon leader, Captain Roman Ligsay, and a fellow sergeant, Michael Hefner, both testified that Gibbs was a "good squad leader," and neither could recall him ever discussing murder scenarios like those described by Morlock.

Morlock, whose previous statements were considered central to the prosecution's case against his co-defendants, had agreed to testify in open court against Gibbs and others as part of his own plea deal.

In May, Morlock took the stand against another of the five soldiers charged with murder, Private Andrew Holmes.

Morlock and Holmes appeared in separate photos published in March by two magazines showing them crouched over the bloodied corpse of a 15-year-old Afghan -- the son of a village elder -- holding the boy's head up for the camera by his hair.

Gibbs' hearing was set to resume on Friday with more witnesses due to be called, but no decision on whether the case will proceed to court-martial was expected immediately.

(Writing by Steve Gorman; Editing by Greg McCune and Cynthia Johnston)

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UK lawmaker asks police to investigate Murdoch (Reuters)

LONDON (Reuters) – News Corp executive James Murdoch could face a police investigation into claims he gave "mistaken" testimony to Britain's parliament this week, deepening the legal crisis that has engulfed the Murdoch family's media empire.

Prime Minister David Cameron, criticized for his close ties to senior figures at News Corp, said that Murdoch had "clearly got questions to answer in parliament."

Police received a letter Friday from opposition legislator Tom Watson asking whether Murdoch was involved in illegal efforts to cover up phone hacking.

Detectives investigating a hacking scandal centered on the Murdochs' now defunct News of the World tabloid were considering the letter, they said.

Keeping up the pressure, another Labor member of parliament (MP) wrote to non-executive directors of News Corp calling on them to suspend James and company chief executive Rupert Murdoch over the scandal.

James Murdoch, chairman of News Corp's British arm, and his 80-year-old father appeared before parliament's media committee Tuesday to answer questions on phone-hacking.

The company had long maintained that the illegal practice was the work of a lone "rogue reporter." However, two former senior figures at its British newspaper arm have disputed James Murdoch's claim that he was unaware of an e-mail that suggested as early as 2008 that wrongdoing was more widespread.

"I think this is the most significant moment of two years of investigation into phone hacking," Watson, a Labor lawmaker, told BBC TV Friday.

"If their statement is accurate, it shows that James Murdoch had knowledge that others were involved in hacking as early as 2008, that he failed to act to discipline staff or initiate some internal investigation," added Watson, part of the media committee who has long campaigned to expose wrongdoing at the newspaper.

"If their version of events is accurate, it doesn't just mean that parliament has been misled, it means the police have another investigation on their hands," Watson added.

In a letter to committee chairman John Whittingdale on Friday, James Murdoch said he had answered questions in parliament truthfully.

"I stand by my testimony," he said, adding that he was preparing a written response to questions raised during his appearance.

CAMERON SEEKS CLARITY

Prime Minister Cameron tried to distance himself from the company after his image was tarnished by his decision to hire a former News of the World editor as his communications chief.

"Clearly James Murdoch has got questions to answer in parliament and I am sure that he will do that," he told reporters, "and clearly News International has got some big issues to deal with and a mess to clear up."

"That has to be done by the management of that company. In the end the management of a company must be an issue for the shareholders of that company."

Ex-News of the World editor Colin Myler and Tom Crone, who was the newspaper group's top legal officer, accused James Murdoch of giving "mistaken" testimony.

Watson said the dispute between senior figures past and present in News Corp marked a turning point in efforts to get to the bottom of a scandal dating backing to 2005.

"I think we're getting near to the core of this now, we're getting nearer the truth," Watson said.

"People are beginning to speak out. The company effectively closed ranks three years ago," he added.

"Now that News of the World is gone, now that the world's media hold this company in the spotlight, I think individuals are beginning to speak out and we will get the full picture."

News Corp long maintained that listening in to voicemails to get stories was the work of a single reporter after their royal editor was jailed in 2007.

A series of legal actions by celebrities who claimed their mobiles had been hacked undermined that defense and raised questions about how far up the company responsibility went.

The floodgates opened two weeks ago when a lawyer for a murdered schoolgirl alleged that her telephone had been hacked while she was missing and messages deleted, giving her parents false hope she was still alive.

Facing public outrage and opposition from long compliant politicians, News Corp closed the News of the World newspaper after 168 years and dropped a $12 billion bid to buy full control of pay TV broadcaster BSkyB.

In a scandal shaking the British establishment, London's police chief and its head of anti-terrorism resigned over their cozy links to a former News of the World deputy editor.

The disputed testimony from Tuesday's dramatic televised session hinges on what James Murdoch knew about a 700,000 pound payment to soccer players' union boss Gordon Taylor to settle a legal claim that his phone had been hacked.

"What Myler's statement shows, if it's true, (is) that James Murdoch knowingly bought the silence of Taylor thereby covering up a crime," Watson said.

"Now in the UK that is called conspiring to pervert the course of justice and it's a very serious matter."

His Labor colleague Chris Bryant said News Corp had failed to exercise proper corporate control.

"I would therefore urge you to suspend both Rupert and James Murdoch from their responsibilities within the organization," Bryant wrote in a letter to directors who include former Spanish prime minister Jose Maria Aznar and Rod Eddington, who once headed British Airways.

(Additional reporting by Michael Holden and Stephen Addison; Editing by Myra MacDonald)

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Court denies motion to stop Loughner medication (AP)

TUCSON, Ariz. – A federal appeals court has refused to bar prison officials from forcibly medicating Tucson shooting rampage suspect Jared Lee Loughner with a psychotropic drug.

Judges from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Friday night denied the emergency motion on the medication from defense attorneys, and also rejected their request for daily reports about his condition at a federal prison facility in Springfield, Mo.

Federal prosecutors said in a filing earlier Friday that Loughner should remain medicated because he may be a danger to himself and his mental and physical condition was rapidly deteriorating.

Loughner, 22, has pleaded not guilty to 49 charges in the Jan. 8 shooting spree that killed six people and wounded 13 others, including U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.

He's been at the Springfield facility since May 27 after a federal judge concluded he was mentally unfit to help in his legal defense.

Mental health experts have determined Loughner suffers from schizophrenia and will try to make him psychologically fit to stand trial. He's expected to spend up to four months at the Missouri prison.

The 9th Circuit had previously scheduled an Aug. 30 hearing in San Francisco on an appeal by Loughner's lawyers over forced medication. It wasn't immediately clear if that hearing will still be held.

Calls to lead Loughner attorney Judy Clarke for comment Friday night weren't immediately returned.

On Thursday, Loughner's attorneys questioned whether the forced medication violates an earlier order by the court that forbid prison officials from involuntarily medicating Loughner as judges mull an appeal on his behalf. They also said their client has been on 24-hour suicide watch.

U.S. Attorney for Arizona Dennis Burke wrote in his filing Friday that "despite being under suicide watch, Loughner's unmedicated behavior is endangering him and that no measure short of medication will protect him from himself more than temporarily because they do not address the mental state which underlies his self-destructive actions."

Loughner was forcibly medicated between June 21 and July 1 after prison officials determined his outbursts there posed a danger to others. He was given twice daily doses of Risperidone, a drug used for people with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and severe behavior problems.

In a July 12 ruling, the appeals court upheld an earlier order that the treatments cease, saying Loughner's interest in not suffering the risk of side effects from powerful drugs is stronger than the government's interest in protecting him and those around him. But the ruling noted that authorities can take steps to maintain the safety of prison officials, other inmates and Loughner, including forcibly giving him tranquilizers.

The decision to resume involuntarily treating Loughner on an emergency basis came Monday after it was determined that he had become an immediate threat to himself, according to court documents.

If Loughner is later determined to be competent enough for trial, the court proceedings will resume. If he isn't deemed competent at the end of his treatment, Loughner's stay at the facility can be extended.

Loughner's lawyers haven't said whether they intend to present an insanity defense, but they have noted in court filings that his mental condition will likely be a central issue at trial.

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