Georgia

World War II soldier’s remains come home

Pvt. Odell Sharpe returned home Friday to Georgia in a flag-draped casket, nearly 60 years after he was presumed killed in action along the Belgian-German border during one of the biggest battles of World War II.

It was an emotional homecoming for Sharpe’s surviving siblings, who last saw their oldest brother during a 10-day leave in 1944 before he was shipped overseas.

The Army machine gunner was presumed killed a few months later — around Christmas Day — during the Allies’ forced retreat under German tank fire in the Battle of the Bulge. He was 19.

The military stunned Sharpe’s family last month with word his remains had been found in September 2003 by a Belgian search team in what appeared to be a foxhole. A shaving kit, a broken comb and dog tags were with his skeleton, and forensic specialists made sure the bones and teeth matched Sharpe’s records.

The family planned to bury Sharpe next to his parents Sunday near their hometown of Uvalda. He will be buried with full military honors.

Los Angeles

Derailment suspect appears in court

A man charged with murder for allegedly triggering the collision of two commuter trains during an aborted suicide attempt appeared Friday in court, but the hearing was delayed so he could undergo further medical evaluation.

Juan Manuel Alvarez, 25, who also apparently tried to slash his wrists and stab himself after the wreck, was brought to court in what appeared to be a hospital smock and had bandages on his wrists.

Standing in shackles, Alvarez had his head tipped forward and his eyes were downcast, but he looked up occasionally to glance across the courtroom. Asked by Superior Court Commissioner Dennis Mulcahy if he agreed to the delay of the arraignment, Alvarez said, “Yes, sir.” He said nothing else.

Authorities say Alvarez caused the wreck Wednesday by driving an SUV onto the tracks, then changed his mind and left the vehicle. The vehicle was struck by one train, which derailed and hit the second Metrolink train. Eleven people died and nearly 200 were injured.

Massachusetts

Wife of priest’s accuser recalls reaction

The wife of the man who has accused defrocked priest Paul Shanley of raping him as a child testified Friday that he had night sweats and curled up in the fetal position on the floor after recovering memories of the alleged abuse.

The woman took the witness stand shortly after her husband finished more than 10 hours of testimony over three days, much of it under grueling and graphic cross-examination by Shanley’s attorney.

The accuser, now a 27-year-old firefighter, says Shanley raped and molested him at a Newton parish, beginning when he was 6. He says he didn’t remember the abuse until early 2002, when he heard a friend’s account of being abused as a boy by Shanley.

New York City

Aspiring actress killed after confronting robber

An aspiring actress and playwright whose work explored life’s darker sides was shot and killed as she confronted an armed robber during an early-morning street holdup.

The robber ran off with his accomplices, police said. No arrests have been made.

Nicole duFresne, 28, had just left a bar in a trendy section of the Lower East Side with her fiance and another couple early Thursday when they were approached by four or five men.

Witnesses told investigators that one of the men grabbed for the other woman’s purse and duFresne intervened, asking, “What are you going to do, shoot us?” A man then fired one shot at her, police said.

DuFresne died from a gunshot wound to her chest.

California

Lawsuit seeks end to gay marriage bans

A gay couple wants a federal judge to overturn state and federal laws against same-sex marriage, arguing that those laws violate their civil rights and are equivalent to racial segregation.

The case is one of the few challenges to bans on same-sex marriage pending in federal court. Most litigation on the issue is in the state court system, where advocates think they have a better chance of success.

The five-hour hearing focused on such basic questions as the purpose of marriage, the definition of discrimination and whether a federal court should get involved in an issue that is the subject of active litigation in state courts.

U.S. District Judge Gary Taylor, after detailed questioning of all sides in the suit filed by Christopher Hammer and Arthur Smelt of Mission Viejo, said he would not issue an immediate ruling but would take some time to consider the arguments.

Washington, D.C.

Rice salutes family during oath ceremony

America’s first black female secretary of state took the ceremonial oath of office Friday surrounded by family and friends, some who had traveled from her native Alabama, as well as the president, first lady and a Supreme Court justice.

Condoleezza Rice’s uncle, Alto Ray, and two aunts, Genoa McPhatter and Mattie Bonds, held the Bible for the ceremony in the State Department’s formal dining room. Her parents are deceased.

Rice, 50, has been national security adviser for four years.

Seattle

Teenager sentenced for Internet worm

A teenager was sentenced Friday to 1 1/2 years in prison for unleashing a variant of the “Blaster” Internet worm that crippled 48,000 computers in 2003.

Jeffrey Lee Parson, 19, of Hopkins, Minn., will serve his time at a low-security prison and must perform 10 months of community service. He had faced up to 10 years in prison, but the judge took pity on the teen, saying his neglectful parents were to blame for the psychological troubles that led to his actions.

“(The Internet) has created a dark hole, a dungeon if you will, for people who have mental illnesses or people who are lonely,” U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman said. “I didn’t see any parent standing there saying, ‘It’s not a healthy thing to lock yourself in a room and create your own reality.'”

Parson entered a guilty plea last summer to one count of intentionally causing or attempting to cause damage to a protected computer.

Parson will have to pay restitution to Microsoft and people whose computers were affected in an amount to be determined at a hearing next month.

Washington, D.C.

Ridge says Boston tip should’ve stayed secret

An unsubstantiated tip that terrorists planned to attack Boston earlier this month should not have been made public, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said Friday.

The warning — which turned out to be bogus — led to a public alert and increased security in Boston and prompted Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney to skip President Bush’s inauguration. It reflected a breakdown in the still-developing U.S. intelligence-sharing system that was put in place after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

The incident, Ridge said, highlighted the need for the Homeland Security Department to be the primary federal contact for state and local authorities as they grapple with threats or other security needs. Ridge said he was not included in the conversation during which FBI agents briefed local authorities about the tip.

New York

Child found dead at school; father charged

A father was charged with murder hours after his 7-year-old daughter was found stabbed to death in the boys’ rest room at her small parochial school in Highland Falls.

The motive was unclear, and no weapon has been found, police Chief Peter Miller said.

Christopher Rhodes, 27, denied guilt, police said.

The body of first-grader Jerica Rhodes was discovered shortly after classes started Thursday at Sacred Heart of Jesus School in the Hudson Valley village, Miller said. Her father was arrested that night and was being held without bail, Miller said.

State police said the girl was stabbed more than once.

The girl lived with her paternal grandparents in this town of about 5,000 people.

Rhodes lived with a fiancee and her son in the village.

Arkansas

Wal-Mart policy adds same-sex partners

The nation’s largest employer is expanding the definition of “immediate family” in its ethics policy to include an employee’s same-sex partner.

The Wal-Mart Stores Inc. policy change — disclosed in a Wednesday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission — accounts for the laws in some states that recognize domestic partnerships and civil unions, officials said.

Company spokesman Gus Whitcomb declined to say if the change would affect employee benefits, or whether it meant Wal-Mart was taking a position on the issue of same-sex marriage or civil unions.

The revisions deal with sections of the company’s ethics code that bar employees from using confidential information to benefit themselves or immediate family members, and from approaching Wal-Mart’s suppliers about jobs for immediate family members, the company said.