Briefly

New York City

Judge rules out Central Park for GOP convention protest

A federal judge ruled Monday that two protest groups could not use New York City’s Central Park as a site for a demonstration days before the Republican National Convention.

“This court cannot blind itself to the daunting security concerns facing this city during the Republican National Convention,” said U.S. District Court Judge William Pauley III.

Pauley said there were serious questions about whether Central Park’s Great Lawn could safely accommodate the 75,000 people expected to attend a rally sponsored by the anti-war ANSWER coalition and the National Council of Arab Americans.

The written ruling followed arguments Friday before Pauley in which the city maintained it was treating all protesters equally and fairly in denying permits to use the Great Lawn.

New Hampshire

Study finds most people don’t eat enough produce

Despite years of public service campaigns, Americans still aren’t eating even close to enough fruits and vegetables, according to a recent study.

What’s more, most people don’t know how much produce they are supposed to eat.

More than 85 percent of consumers are not eating the federally recommended minimum of five servings of produce a day, according to an AC Nielsen poll of 2,472 people.

And nearly 60 percent think eating one to four servings is enough for a healthy diet; 20 percent said one or two servings is enough.

The government recommends two to four servings of fruit and three to five servings of vegetables daily. Serving examples include three-fourths of a cup of juice, a medium apple or a half-cup of chopped vegetables.

The poll, conducted on behalf of the Produce for Better Health Foundation, a nonprofit nutrition education group, found that nearly half of those questioned ate just one or two servings of produce a day.

Afghanistan

Vigilante suspect videos indicate government support

Three Americans accused of torturing prisoners at a private jail played videos at their trial Monday showing a top Afghan official pledging his full support to the vigilante suspects, then sending his security force on a raid with them.

The videos, and another showing NATO peacekeepers in a separate raid, were part of the defense’s effort to prove the counterterrorism operation had the backing of the Pentagon and Afghan officials and was not a rogue mission as the prosecution alleges.

Jonathan Idema, Brent Bennett and Edward Caraballo face up to 20 years in jail if convicted on charges of kidnapping and torture. Four alleged Afghan accomplices are also on trial.

California

Defense questions Peterson’s mistress

Scott Peterson’s lawyers sought Monday to portray his former mistress Amber Frey as a calculated seductress and liar who was more obsessed with him than he was with her.

Under defense questioning, Frey insisted she taped and turned over to police all telephone calls she had with Peterson after being prompted to do so by authorities investigating the disappearance of Peterson’s pregnant wife, Laci.

But during cross-examination Monday, defense attorney Mark Geragos prodded Frey about the taped calls, implying she did not fully cooperate with police.

“At any point did you hide any information … from the Modesto Police Department?” Geragos sked.

“No,” Frey said, answering questions in an even-toned voice directly to Geragos, never looking at Peterson or the jury.

Frey is expected to take the stand again today.