Iran to put Americans on trial again in May: report
TEHRAN (Reuters) – Iran will put three Americans facing spying charges on trial for the second time on May 11, an official was quoted Sunday as saying by the official IRNA news agency. "The next trial session of three Americans who have been charged by espionage will be held on May 11 in Tehran's revolutionary and general court," Alireza Avaiee, head of Tehran's prosecutor's office told IRNA.Avaiee said the trial, unusually, may be held in public.Shane Bauer, Josh Fattal and Sarah Shourd were arrested on July 31, 2009, near Iran's border with Iraq and said they had crossed the unmarked border by mistake while hiking.Shourd was released in September last year on $500,000 bail and returned home. Iran says the move a "humanitarian gesture."The first trial session was held in February.The case has added to strains between Iran and the West, already at loggerheads over the Islamic state's nuclear program. The West suspects the program might be aimed at making atomic bombs. Iran denies this and says it needs nuclear technology to meet its booming demand for energy.
Court martial recommended for Fort Hood shooting suspect
HOUSTON (Reuters) – A U.S. Army official has recommended that the Army major charged in the 2009 shooting rampage at a Texas Army base face a court martial and possible death penalty charges, the Army said on Friday.
Major Nidal Malik Hasan, a 40-year-old Army psychiatrist who U.S. officials linked to a radical Muslim cleric in Yemen, is charged in a shooting spree at Fort Hood that killed 13 people and wounded 32 others on November 5, 2009.
Colonel Morgan Lamb, a Fort Hood brigade commander, forwarded his non-binding recommendation to Lieutenant General Robert Cone, the Fort Hood commander who will have the final word on setting a possible court martial.
"We can confirm that Lamb did recommend that the charges pending against Hasan be sent to a general court-marital authorized to consider capital punishment," the Fort Hood public affairs office said in a statement.
The statement did not set a deadline for Cone to act. Retired Colonel John Galligan, Hasan's attorney, could not be reached to comment.
Hasan did not speak during evidentiary hearings held at Fort Hood in October 2010. Instead, he silently watched the proceedings from his wheelchair. He was paralyzed from the chest down by bullet wounds inflicted by civilian police officers during the shooting.
In the rampage at the world's largest military facility, victims recalled hearing Hasan, who is Muslim, shout "Allahu Akbar" -- Arabic for "God is Greatest" -- just before opening fire on a group of soldiers undergoing health checks before being deployed to war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The incident has raised concerns over the threat of "home-grown" militant attacks. U.S. officials said Hasan had exchanged e-mails with Anwar al-Awlaki, an anti-American al Qaeda figure based in Yemen.
Fort Hood is a major deployment point for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
(Editing by Jackie Frank)
Cuban trial of U.S. aid contractor resumes
HAVANA (Reuters) – The trial of an American aid contractor facing up to 20 years in jail for his work in a U.S. program promoting political opposition in communist Cuba moved into a second day on Saturday with more testimony and possibly final arguments expected.
Alan Gross, 61, was an active participant in his own case in the trial's first day on Friday, making what the Cuban government described as a "free declaration" and mounting what his U.S. attorney called a "vigorous defense."
Gross is fighting for his freedom because prosecutors are seeking a 20-year sentence if as expected he is convicted of supplying Internet equipment, including sophisticated satellite phones, to dissidents, in violation of Cuban law.
He is officially charged with "acts against the independence and territorial integrity of the state."
The case put the brakes on a brief warming in U.S.-Cuban relations and could do lasting damage if Gross is imprisoned for long. There is speculation a political solution will be reached that will allow Gross to go free soon.
The longtime development worker was in Cuba on a tourist visa working in a controversial U.S. Agency for International Development program aimed at promoting political change on the island. He was arrested December 3, 2009 in a Havana hotel and has been in jail since.
The United States, at odds with Cuba for more than five decades, said he helped provide Internet service to Jewish groups but committed no crimes.
Cuban leaders view Gross' work as more of long-standing U.S. efforts to sabotage the communist government put in place after Fidel Castro rose to power in a 1959 revolution.
In a recently leaked video of a Ministry of Interior briefing, an Internet expert equated Gross to the "mercenaries" who took part in the 1961 U.S.-backed and unsuccessful invasion attempt at the Bay of Pigs.
IDEOLOGICAL WAR
Internet access is limited in Cuba but the expert said the Internet is the latest front in the long ideological war between the two countries.
The U.S. programs have been criticized in the United States for doing little more than provoking the Cuban government.
Cuba was expected to use the trial to put a spotlight on U.S. activities on the island, but has excluded foreign press from covering it and made no mention of it on Saturday in the official newspaper Granma.
In a statement on Friday night, the government said Gross spoke freely and answered questions from prosecutors, his attorneys and the panel of judges hearing the case.
Without naming them, it said other witnesses testified and evidence was presented. More of the same was expected for Saturday, the statement said.
Verdicts are usually rendered quickly in Cuban trials but decisions on sentencing can take several days.
Gross, dressed in civilian clothes, could be seen from a distance arriving on at the court on Saturday.
His wife Judy Gross also is attending and smiled without speaking when reporters asked for comment as she walked into the court. She was accompanied by Gross's U.S. lawyer Peter Kahn, who is observing the trial while Cuban lawyers conduct his client's defense.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in Washington on Friday the United States was "deeply concerned" about the case and called for his release.
"He's been unjustly jailed for far too long," she said.
Judy Gross has pleaded with Cuba for his release on humanitarian grounds because their 26-year-old daughter and Alan Gross's 88-year-old mother both have cancer..
(Additional reporting by Rosa Tania Valdes and Esteban Israel; Editing by Eric Walsh)
Wisconsin layoffs loom amid budget impasse
MADISON, Wisconsin (Reuters) – Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker issued layoff warning notices on Friday to unions representing state workers as a battle intensified between Republican and Democratic lawmakers over union bargaining rights that has sparked protests and a national debate.
"If the Senate Democrats come back to Wisconsin, these notices may be able to be rescinded and layoffs avoided," Walker said in a statement. "This action is necessary due to the delay in passage of the budget repair bill."
The warning notices were sent to at least 13 unions including AFSCME, Association of State Prosecutors and Wisconsin Education Association Council. The notes do not represent actual layoffs, but took the war of words between the newly elected governor and state Democrats to a new level.
The number of potential layoffs was not specified, but Walker said this week about 1,500 workers would be affected.
Walker, a Republican who this week projected a budget deficit for Wisconsin of $3.6 billion for the coming two years, has proposed a budget "fix" for the current year ending in June that would eliminate most of the collective bargaining rights for most of the state's 300,000 public employees.
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That measure drew more than 70,000 protesters to the capital a week ago the biggest local march since the Vietnam War. It has also become the epicenter of a national debate on union rights.
Walker's bill remains stalled in the Wisconsin Senate where all 14 Democrats fled to neighboring Illinois two weeks ago to deny the measure the quorum it needs to pass in the chamber.
Dave Hansen, one of the 14, issued a statement on Friday saying that while he had believed the two sides were making progress earlier in the week, "it has become increasingly apparent that Governor Walker is not interested in compromise, but instead appears intent on prolonging the impasse."
Behind-the-scenes negotiations have failed to produce a compromise. Just one Democrat is needed for a quorum.
Walker told reporters late on Thursday that "extremist elements" among 14 absent Democrats had blocked progress.
"Just when we think the process is moving forward, we see no action," Walker said. "We're frustrated."
Walker said some of the absent Democrats, who have been threatened with $100-a-day fines and the prospect of being arrested and taken to the Senate if they return to Wisconsin, appear willing to stay away "not only for several more months, but potentially the next two years."
With no action expected on the bill, Walker said he will be forced to send out layoff notices to 1,500 state employees, saving some $30 million.
"The reality is, we shouldn't have to be going down the path of preparing for layoffs." Walker said.
POTENTIAL BACKLASH?
In the Midwest, the traditional "Rust Belt" heartland of the country and home to big unionized manufacturers like the auto and steel industries, there were signs that some Republican budget "hawks" were taking caution from Wisconsin.
A poll by Rasmussen Reports of 800 Wisconsin voters on March 2 found 34 percent strongly approved of Walker's performance as governor, while 48 percent strongly disapproved. Walker was elected with a 52 percent majority last November.
In Ohio, where legislators are considering even more stringent curbs on unions, the Republican leader of the state's House of Representatives decided on Friday to hold at least three weeks of debate on a bill -- a setback for its backers.
Republican Gov. John Kasich had hoped to enact Senate Bill 5 by March 15 when he is scheduled to unveil his two-year budget proposal for fiscal 2012-2013.
The vote in the Ohio Senate on Wednesday was 17 to 16 with six Republicans joining Democrats in voting against.
In Indiana, where 38 Democrats have also fled the state to delay a vote on bills they say would harm workers' rights, Republicans on Friday voted to impose a $250-a-day fine starting on Monday for members who aren't on the House floor.
Protests against the Wisconsin bill included a two-week-long occupation of the state Capitol building.
Walker's budget repair bill increases worker contributions to their pensions and health care and Walker said it provides tools for local governments to cut expenses, reducing the need for layoffs in the current fiscal year.
The group Americans for Prosperity said on Friday they will do a "Stand Against Spending, Stand With Walker" bus tour around Wisconsin on Saturday in support Walker's plan, with a rally planned for Sunday in Madison but not at the Capitol.
Opponents including the AFL-CIO and other unions said they will continue to organize protests at the Capitol on Saturday and Sunday along with smaller events throughout the state.
(Additional reporting by Susan Guyett in Indianapolis and Jim Lekrone in Columbus. Editing by Andrew Stern and Peter Bohan)
Accused Arizona shooter Loughner newly charged
PHOENIX (Reuters) – Federal prosecutors on Friday unsealed an expanded 49-count indictment against Tucson shooting rampage suspect Jared Lee Loughner, setting in motion the formal process of deciding whether to seek the death penalty.
The latest indictment charges Loughner with first-degree murder of a federal employee in the deaths of a federal judge and an aid to U.S. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, gravely wounded in the attack at a meet-and-greet event for her constituents.
Loughner, 22, also is charged with causing the deaths of four other people who were "participants at a federally provided activity" when they were gunned down at the January 8 event.
Those charges, as well as additional counts of first-degree murder through the use of a firearm, are all capital offenses, and their inclusion starts a formal review process at the U.S. Department of Justice of deciding whether to seek the death penalty or life in prison for Loughner.
"This indictment involves potential death-penalty charges, and department rules require us to pursue a deliberate and thorough process," Arizona U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke said in a statement.
Loughner, a college dropout who investigators said had a history of mental problems, is accused of opening fire on Giffords and a crowd of bystanders attending a "Congress on Your Corner" event outside a grocery story.
Six people were killed and 13 others wounded, including Giffords, who was shot through the head at close range and remains hospitalized at a rehabilitation center in Houston.
Loughner, who is being held in federal custody without bail, is scheduled to appear for arraignment on the new charges at a hearing set for next Wednesday in Tucson.
The latest charges expand on an indictment returned in January accusing Loughner of attempting to assassinate Giffords -- described by authorities as his primary target -- and the attempted murder of two staff members who were wounded.
Loughner pleaded not guilty to those charges in January.
The new indictment incorporates those charges and a criminal complaint filed the day after the shooting which included murder charges for deaths of Judge John Roll, the chief federal judge in Arizona, and Gabe Zimmerman, the congresswoman's director of community outreach.
The indictment frees the government from the need to present its case to a judge in a preliminary hearing in order to proceed to trial.
(Additional reporting and writing by Steve Gorman; Editing by Jerry Norton
News Source: Yahoo
