Briefly

Moscow

Chechens arrested in American’s slaying

Two Chechen men suspected of taking part in the slaying of American journalist Paul Klebnikov have been arrested, police said Tuesday, and one commentator cited his interviews with a rebel leader as a possible motive.

Three guns were seized from the men, and preliminary findings indicated that one of the weapons might have been used in the July 9 slaying of Klebnikov, the editor of Forbes magazine’s Russian edition, police chief Vladimir Pronin told the Interfax news agency. He added that the suspects, who were detained overnight, had kidnapped an unidentified person prior to the killing.

Klebnikov, an American of Russian ancestry, was gunned down outside the magazine’s office in downtown Moscow in a slaying that compounded concerns about the safety of journalists in Russia.

San Francisco

American Taliban wants sentence commuted

John Walker Lindh asked President Bush on Tuesday to commute his 20-year prison sentence for aiding the Taliban.

His lawyer, James Brosnahan, said that Lindh was fighting alongside the Taliban in a civil war against the Northern Alliance, that he was not a terrorist and that he never fought against U.S. troops.

Brosnahan said the sentence should be reduced because Yaser Esam Hamdi, another American citizen captured in Afghanistan on suspicion of aiding the Taliban, was being released after being held for three years as an enemy combatant.

Justice Department spokesman Mark Corallo, while not commenting directly on the merits of Lindh’s request, pointed out that Lindh “pleaded guilty to supporting the Taliban with his lawyers standing beside him.”

California

Hikers set record on West Coast trail

A pair of hiking pioneers touched the rusting fence at the U.S.-Mexico border Tuesday just as the sun was sinking toward the Pacific Ocean, completing the first known continuous trek of the 1,800-mile trail down the nation’s Pacific coast.

Nate Olive and Sarah Janes, ecologists from the University of Georgia, held hands and kissed as they reached the end of the so-called West Coast Trail, a path running from northwestern Washington state to this point in San Diego County.

“We didn’t know it was going to be possible just four or five months ago … and now the West Coast Trail is reality,” Olive said.

Olive, 28, of Atlanta, and Janes, 23, of Slidell, La., began their journey June 8 at Washington’s Cape Flattery.