Kuwait City

U.S. soldiers refuse to plead to charges of abusing Iraqis

Three American soldiers refused to plead Saturday to charges of abusing Iraqi prisoners of war, and will face separate court-martials in January, a military spokesman said.

“All three deferred to plea,” Maj. Victor Harris told The Associated Press. “They will do it at the trial.”

The charges grew out of an incident May 12 at a U.S. detention facility, Camp Bucca, in southern Iraq. The three soldiers, from the 320th Military Police Battalion, based in Ashley, Pa., are accused of punching and kicking Iraqi POWs while escorting them to Camp Bucca.

The soldiers, Master Sgt. Lisa Marie Girman, 35; Staff Sgt. Scott A. McKenzie, 38; and Spc. Timothy F. Canjar, 21, have said they acted in self-defense and that guards had been harassed and assaulted daily by unruly prisoners.

New Orleans

Louisiana elects Blanco first-ever female governor

Democratic Lt. Gov. Kathleen Blanco on Saturday became the first woman ever elected governor of Louisiana, defeating a conservative Indian-American and scoring a rare gain for Democrats in an election season that has seen a string of Republican victories.

Blanco’s victory puts the Louisiana governorship back in the Democratic column for the first time since GOP Gov. Mike Foster won the first of his two terms eight years ago. He could not run again because of term limits.

With all but 13 precincts counted, Blanco had 52 percent, or 725,908 votes, to Bobby Jindal’s 48 percent, or 672,484.

New York

Official: Ferry pilot’s system contained no medications

There was no evidence that the pilot at the controls of a ferry that crashed last month had taken prescription drugs, a city official said Saturday, a day after federal prosecutors took over the investigation.

Assistant Capt. Richard Smith said in the hours after the crash that he had taken blood pressure medication earlier in the day and slumped over the controls.

However, a city official familiar with the investigation, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Saturday that blood tests showed the pilot had not taken prescription drugs during the 12 to 14 hours before the crash.

Ten people died Oct. 15 when the ferry crashed into a Staten Island pier.

London

Report: British security raises level of terrorist threat

Britain’s security services have been placed on a higher level of alert because of intelligence that al-Qaida may be planning a new attack, the British Broadcasting Corp. reported Saturday.

Internal alerts for the police and military are not usually made public. The Home Office, which oversees the intelligence services, would not comment on the BBC report and said it never discussed alert levels unless there was a specific threat.