Boston

Conservatives ask court to block gay marriages

Conservative groups and some state lawmakers pleaded with a federal judge Wednesday in an 11th-hour bid to stop the nation’s first state-sanctioned gay marriages from taking place next week in Massachusetts.

Mathew Staver, president and general counsel of the Florida-based Liberty Counsel, argued the state’s high court stepped outside its jurisdiction when it ruled in November that gay marriage should be legal in Massachusetts.

“It’s an unusual time that we live in, and we’re asking this court to intervene to prevent this constitutional train wreck,” Staver told U.S. District Judge Joseph Tauro.

Assistant Massachusetts Atty. Gen. Peter Sacks, arguing on behalf of the Supreme Judicial Court, said the state court based its ruling on an interpretation of the state constitution, and the case did not belong in federal court.

The judge said he would issue a decision this afternoon or Friday.

Los Angeles

Ex-FBI handler pleads guilty in double-agent case

A former FBI agent charged with allowing classified documents to fall into the hands of his lover — a woman suspected of being a Chinese double agent — pleaded guilty Wednesday to lying about their affair.

U.S. District Judge Florence Marie Cooper said James J. Smith, 60, faced up to five years in prison at sentencing next January.

Sun emphasized that Smith admitted only that he had a sexual relationship with Katrina Leung and that he lied to the FBI about it. He did not plead guilty to any counts involving mishandling of classified information.

Smith was the longtime handler of Leung, a naturalized U.S. citizen and socialite who was recruited 20 years ago to work for the FBI by gathering intelligence during her frequent business trips to China. Prosecutors claim she began working for China around 1990.

Beijing

China to launch ‘taikonauts’ on new space mission

China plans to launch a pair of “taikonauts” into orbit in autumn 2005 in its second manned space mission, the official Xinhua News Agency reported Wednesday.

The flight will last between five and seven days, Xinhua said, citing Qi Faren, the space program’s chief designer.

It was the first time the Chinese government disclosed the size of the planned crew of the Shenzhou 6 capsule. Earlier reports said the launch would be sometime next year.