Briefly

Washington, D.C.

Court faults shutdown

A federal judge should not have ordered the Interior Department to pull the plug on many of its Internet connections without giving the agency a chance to show it had improved security measures, a federal appeals court ruled Friday.

U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth ordered the shutdown in March after finding security holes could have allowed hackers access to millions of dollars in royalties from Indian lands managed by the agency.

But the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit said Lamberth ignored evidence showing Interior had addressed his concerns.

The shutdown affected Haskell Indian Nations University for 11 days.

Washington, D.C.

Sage grouse likely won’t join endangered list

Interior Department biologists have recommended against adding the sage grouse to the endangered species list, a determination that could wind up benefiting natural gas and oil producers but add to environmentalists’ concerns.

At stake is a bird whose numbers have declined to as few as 142,000, as well as the use of great expanses of Western sagebrush that provide cover and food. There once may have been as many as 16 million of the birds, the government estimates.

Rome

Defense lawyers seek premier’s acquittal

Lawyers defending Premier Silvio Berlusconi against corruption charges made their final arguments Friday, calling for his acquittal in a 4-year-old trial they said could damage the country’s reputation.

Berlusconi, the first sitting Italian premier to be a defendant in a criminal case, did not attend the close of the defense case in Milan. He has appeared only three times during the trial, which arose from charges he bribed judges in the 1980s to favor his business empire.

Last month, prosecutors urged the court to convict the media mogul and sentence him to eight years in prison.

The trial centers on the sale of state-held food conglomerate SME.

London

Sotheby’s auctions Russian czar’s wines

Nestled in cellars tunneled deep into a Crimean mountainside, they survived revolution, war and decades of communism.

Hundreds of bottles of wine selected for the pleasure of Czar Nicholas II and preserved on the orders of Josef Stalin were auctioned Friday by Sotheby’s in London — the latest in a slew of Russian collectibles being snapped up at ever-rising prices.

Several dozen Russian and European collectors gathered at Sotheby’s showrooms to bid on bottles, some more than 150 years old and valued at several thousand dollars, from the imperial Massandra winery near Yalta on Ukraine’s Black Sea coast.

Despite high levels of interest in the Sotheby’s sale, almost two-thirds of the 522 lots did not reach their reserve prices. Of those that sold, the most expensive — a 1913 Kron Brothers Sercial-Verdelho-Albillo from the czar’s collection — went for $8,000.

The auction included imperial shaped bottles of wine, carrying the official seal, like the one above.

Romania

Groups seek probe of election fraud claims

Dozens of former fighters in the 1989 uprising that toppled Communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu rallied Friday in a central Bucharest square to demand that authorities investigate alleged fraud in the country’s general election.

The Constitutional Court deliberated Friday on requests from three political parties to cancel the elections, but analysts expected the court to reject the fraud claims as Romanian law requires a high burden of proof and a widespread, proved fraud before elections can be annulled.

In Sunday’s parliament balloting, the ruling Social Democratic Party won 189 of 469 seats, while the opposition Justice and Truth Alliance had 161 seats. Neither party won enough for a majority.

Congo

Leader accuses Rwanda of confrontation

President Joseph Kabila accused Rwanda on Friday of trying to create a confrontation with Congo in an effort to disrupt Congolese efforts to secure the country and move toward 2005 elections.

It was Kabila’s first public statement since Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame began warning last week that his country would act against 8,000 to 10,000 Rwanda Hutu rebels taking shelter in eastern Congo. Rwanda’s warnings have raised fears of renewed war in central Africa, reviving a 1998-2002 conflict that drew in the armies of five nations.

Salt Lake City

Accused kidnapper to be re-evaluated

A judge ordered a new round of competency evaluations in the Elizabeth Smart kidnapping case Friday after the suspect broke out in a Christmas hymn at a court hearing.

Judge Judith Atherton’s order came after Brian David Mitchell closed his eyes and sang, “Oh come, oh come, Immanuel,” the name he used as a street preacher.

After about 40 seconds of the tune, the judge ordered Mitchell from the courtroom.

Mitchell’s lawyers said he had grown increasingly delusional in jail since September, when the judge declared him competent after seven months of dueling evaluations.

Mitchell, a self-proclaimed prophet, has pleaded not guilty to kidnapping and other charges in the knifepoint abduction of Elizabeth from her bedroom in 2002, when she was 14.

Washington, D.C.

Hazardous site price tag more than $280 billion

At the current pace of cleanup work, it could take up to 35 years and $280 billion to fix most of the nation’s existing and yet-to-be-discovered hazardous waste sites, the government said Friday.

A report by the Environmental Protection Agency described what taxpayers and private industry will be spending to fix sites contaminated with hazardous waste and petroleum products.

It estimated 77,000 such sites, with up to 9,267 more discovered each year.

At that rate, as many as 355,000 hazardous waste sites in the United States could have required cleanups by 2039 — 60 percent more than the 217,000 sites that EPA’s last study, in 1996, estimated might be in need of cleanups over 30 years.

Virginia

Judge refuses to set Moussaoui trial date

Terrorism defendant Zacarias Moussaoui will not go on trial anytime soon because of pretrial disputes about his access to al-Qaida witnesses and his eligibility for the death penalty, a trial judge said Friday.

Prosecutors had asked that the trial begin May 31, the day after Memorial Day, but U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema denied the request. Moussaoui, the only U.S. defendant charged in the conspiracy that led to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, is being held at Alexandria’s detention center in the Washington suburbs.

Moussaoui was indicted in December 2001, charged with participating in an al-Qaida conspiracy to commit terrorism and attack the United States. The conspiracy included the 9-11 attacks but was not limited to them, the government said.

Washington, D.C.

Bush plans final push for intelligence bill

President Bush will make a final appeal to Congress to find a way to pass legislation this year that would make the Sept. 11 commission’s terror-fighting recommendations law, White House officials said Friday.

Bush plans to send a letter to congressional leaders outlining his wishes on stalled legislation to create a national intelligence director position to coordinate the nation’s spy agencies and enact other anti-terror measures. The House and Senate return next week and will take a last stab at getting a solution.

House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., refused to bring a House-Senate compromise up for a vote two weeks ago after two House chairmen, GOP Reps. Duncan Hunter and James Sensenbrenner, opposed the solution.

Philadelphia

Red Cross worker charged in ID theft

A Red Cross employee and two other people were accused Friday of stealing the identities of about 40 blood donors and using the information to obtain about $268,000 in cash and merchandise.

In 2002 and 2003, Red Cross data entry clerk Danielle Baker, 33, of Collingswood, N.J., filched names, addresses, birthdates, Social Security numbers, telephone numbers and places of employment from the computer records of people who had participated in corporate blood drives in Philadelphia, U.S. Atty. Patrick Meehan said.

Harold J. McCoy III, 33, and Karynn R. Long, 36, of Dayton, Ohio, then used the information to obtain credit, cash counterfeit checks and get bank loans, Meehan said.

Meehan said many companies canceled their blood drives as word of the identity thefts spread, costing the Red Cross $455,000 and forcing it to purchase blood.

Oklahoma City

Defense attorney shot, kidnapped from home

A prominent criminal defense attorney was shot and kidnapped from his home by four people, then escaped when the suspects took him to a bank to withdraw money.

The suspects, two men and two women, took attorney Mark Henricksen, 50, and Brett Hubert, 27, hostage Thursday night after shooting and wounding both of them in Henricksen’s home, said Oklahoma City Police Capt. Jeffery Becker.

The next morning, the suspects took the men to a bank where they ordered Henricksen to withdraw cash. Henricksen called police while inside the bank alone.

Officers arrested the four suspects soon after. They could face charges of shooting with intent to kill, robbery, kidnapping and extortion, Becker said.

Henricksen was shot twice in the legs and once in the stomach during the robbery. Hubert, Henricksen’s overnight guest, suffered a superficial gunshot wound to his shoulder.

Washington, D.C.

Official: U.S. will seek Cuba’s ‘liberation’

President Bush will be committed during his second term to the “liberation of Cuba” by extending moral and political support to the Cuban people, a top State Department official said Friday.

Roger Noriega, who heads the department’s Latin American bureau, also said that once Fidel Castro was no longer in power, the United States was ready to support broad economic and political reform in Cuba “to ensure that vestiges of the regime don’t hold on.”

Noriega noted that Washington has a blueprint for providing social, economic and other types of assistance to Cuba in the post-Castro era.

The plan is spelled out in a report released last May and overseen by Secretary of State Colin Powell. The assistance is conditioned on whether Cuba is on a democratic path and whether such assistance is requested.

California

San Diego mayor’s inauguration delayed

A swearing-in ceremony for San Diego Mayor Dick Murphy was put on hold Friday until an appeals court can rule on a challenge to an election that was thrown into disarray by a write-in campaign.

The presiding judge of the appeals panel said the court would need several days to rule on whether the San Diego County Registrar of Voters can certify the disputed results of the three-way race.

That means there won’t be a decision in time for Monday’s scheduled swearing-in ceremony for Murphy. Under San Diego’s bylaws, he will stay on as mayor until the issue is settled, said Deputy City Atty. Jim Chapin.

Murphy finished with a 2,100-vote lead over the write-in candidacy of Councilwoman Donna Frye.

Frye’s vote total excludes ballots on which voters wrote her name but failed to darken the adjoining oval. The councilwoman estimates that up to 5,000 of her supporters neglected to fill in the bubble.

Supervisor Ron Roberts came in third in the race.

Washington, D.C.

Iranians arrested in night-vision deal

U.S. and Austrian authorities have arrested two Iranian men on charges of attempting to illegally export thousands of sophisticated American night-vision systems for Iran’s military, U.S. officials said Friday.

The alleged transactions were eventually expected to involved about 3,000 of the advanced helmet-mounted Generation III systems, which can amplify even faint starlight so that soldiers can see to fight in the dark.

The two suspects, Mahmoud Seif and Shahrzad Mir Gholikhan, were arrested earlier this week on export violation charges in Vienna, Austria, by U.S. and Austrian authorities shortly after they arrived to pick up their first batch of night-vision equipment. The investigation dates to August 2002 and involves ICE, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service and Austrian security personnel.

California

Brother asks jury to spare Peterson’s life

Scott Peterson could be a good influence on fellow prison inmates if jurors spare his life, Peterson’s half brother testified Friday in the penalty phase of the former fertilizer salesman’s trial.

“Scott is a person you want to be around in any circumstances,” Joe Peterson said. “He’s a listener, a talker, someone that cares. He’s just got so much to share that there would definitely be a positive.”

Scott Peterson was convicted Nov. 12 of murder in the deaths of his eight-months pregnant wife, Laci, and her fetus.

Prosecutors said he smothered or strangled his wife in their Modesto home on or around Christmas Eve 2002, then dumped her weighted body into San Francisco Bay. The remains of Laci and the fetus were discovered about four months later.

Ohio

Oldest American dies

America’s oldest person, a 114-year-old woman who voted in every election since women earned the right in 1920 and had the thinnest file in her doctor’s office, has died.

Verona Johnston died Wednesday at home in Worthington, said her daughter, Julie Johnson.

Johnson said her mother was “ready to go,” and that shortly before her death she said: “Dying is hard, but everyone has to do it, and I hope I do it well.”

A native of Iowa, Johnston moved to Ohio at age 98 to live with Johnson and her husband, both in their 80s.

She was born Aug. 6, 1890, in Indianola, Iowa. She was the eighth of nine children born to Civil War veteran Joseph Calhoun and Emma Speer Calhoun.

Johnston voted in every election since women earned the right in 1920, even casting an absentee ballot in November.

Washington

Democrats to finance manual recount of votes

Washington Democrats will pay for a second recount in the state’s unsettled governor’s race, hoping it will erase the 42-vote margin held by Republican Dino Rossi.

The party on Friday also asked the state Supreme Court to rule that all ballots be treated the same from county to county. That would mean considering some previously uncounted ballots, particularly in Democratic-leaning King County.

The party’s nominee, three-term Atty. Gen. Christine Gregoire, praised the decision to seek a statewide recount.

Gregoire, 57, best known for her successful battle with the tobacco industry, trailed Rossi, 45, a former state senator, by just 42 votes after a machine recount was certified earlier this week. Rossi won the initial vote count by 261 ballots, a margin so close it triggered the mandatory machine recount.

Secretary of State Sam Reed is expected to order the new count Monday and most counties are expected to begin the laborious job Wednesday. Reed said the count should be completed by Dec. 23 unless there are legal challenges.

Washington, D.C.

Groups outline plans to build better citizens

Two new efforts are afoot to encourage Americans to volunteer, vote, voice their opinions and otherwise live up to their civic duty.

The fledgling programs, intended to promote civic education and nudge citizens off the nation’s sidelines, were announced by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and by the National Conference on Citizenship, at its annual meeting Friday.

The conference is creating a National Center on Citizenship intended to help more than a million people who work to boost civic involvement — teachers, members of community groups and foundations, and others — share their successes and apply for federal grant money. A National Advisory Board will work to come up with better ways to measure civic engagement.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s initiative will help teach middle and high school students American history and civics.

Serbia-Montenegro

Former rebel becomes Kosovo’s prime minister

Kosovo lawmakers on Friday elected a former rebel commander to be the prime minister even though he was recently questioned by U.N. war crimes investigators.

The 120-seat parliament voted 72-3 to let Ramush Haradinaj, a 36-year-old ethnic Albanian, head the new Kosovo government. Many members abstained in favor of another former rebel leader who heads the second-biggest party, the Democratic Party of Kosovo.

The parliament also certified President Ibrahim Rugova’s victory in last month’s general elections.

Western officials had raised concerns about the premier’s post going to Haradinaj amid signs a U.N. war crimes tribunal might be preparing to indict him — a development that could destabilize the province.

U.N. investigators recently questioned Haradinaj about his role during the 1998-1999 war between ethnic Albanian rebels and Serb forces loyal to the former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.

Spain

Blasts rattle Madrid

Five small explosive devices detonated Friday at Madrid gas stations along busy highways after a telephone warning from the armed Basque separatist group ETA, officials said.

There were no injuries and only minor damage at the stations, which were evacuated before the blasts, an Interior Ministry official said.

Earlier, the Basque newspaper Gara said it had received a call from a person claiming to speak on behalf of ETA who said five explosive devices had been placed at gas stations along major highways leading out of Madrid. Gara often serves as a mouthpiece for ETA statements.

Friday night marked the start of a long holiday weekend in Spain and the highways where those gas stations are located had been bumper-to-bumper with traffic.

ETA has been blamed for more than 800 deaths since the late 1960s.

Its last fatal attack was in May 2003 — a car bombing that killed two policemen in the northern town of Sanguesa.

West Bank

Hamas official signals readiness for truce

The militant group Hamas will accept a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and a long-term truce with Israel, a leader said Friday, apparently softening Hamas’ hardline stance and boosting hopes for renewed peace efforts after Yasser Arafat’s death.

Sheik Hassan Yousef, a senior Hamas official in the West Bank, said he saw a truce in which Israel and a Palestinian state “live side-by-side in peace and security for a certain period.”

Yousef’s statements signal an apparent reversal of policy for Hamas, which has long sought to destroy Israel and replace it with an Islamic Palestinian state. The group has killed hundreds of Israelis in attacks during the past four years.

Yousef’s comments indicated that four years of fighting with Israel — during which the military has targeted the group’s top leaders — and the imposition of international sanctions have taken a toll.