Deliberations will begin in terror trial of professor

Deliberations will beginin terror trial of professor
TAMPA, Fla. -- After hearing five months of testimony, jurors will begin deliberating today in the trial of a former college professor accused of being a key member of a notorious Palestinian terrorist group. Sami Al-Arian, 47, and three co-defendants are charged with raising money in the United States to support the murderous mission of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Defense attorneys said the government failed to prove that the defendants ever planned or knew of any violent acts. Rather, the men merely were strong supporters of the Palestinian cause, a viewpoint unpopular in the United States, the defense said. In his final address to jurors Monday morning, prosecutor Terry Zitek dismissed the contention by the defense that the defendants are being persecuted just for espousing unpopular ideas. Al-Arian, a fired University of South Florida computer engineering professor, and the others are charged in a 51-count indictment with operating a criminal enterprise, conspiracy to murder and maim people outside the United States, money-laundering, and providing material support to a terrorist group. Prosecutors allege Al-Arian, Ghassan Ballut, Sameeh Hammoudeh and Hatim Naji Fariz used an academic think tank, a Palestinian charity and a school founded by Al-Arian in Tampa as fund-raising fronts for the PIJ.
Sexually altered fishraise pollution concerns
LOS ANGELES -- Scientists have discovered sexually altered fish off the Southern California coast, raising concerns that treated sewage discharged into the ocean contains chemicals that can affect an animal's reproductive system. So-called intersex animals are not new, but most previous instances were in fresh water. Environmentalists say this is among the first studies to document the effects in a marine environment. Last year, federal scientists reported finding egg-growing male fish in Maryland's Potomac River. They think the abnormality may be caused by pollutants from sewage plants, feedlots and factories. In the latest studies, presented at Monday's Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry in Baltimore, scientists caught 82 male English sole and hornyhead turbot off Los Angeles and Orange counties. Of those, 11 possessed ovary tissue in their testes, said Doris Vidal of the Southern California Coastal Water Research Project, who led one of the studies.
Rep. DeLay's attorneyto request Dec. trial
AUSTIN -- An attorney for U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay said Monday that he will request an early December trial date for the former House majority leader, if the case gets that far. Attorney Dick DeGuerin said in a letter that "time is of the essence" in the case that has temporarily forced DeLay to step down from his top House post. Judge Pat Priest has set a Nov. 22 hearing to consider requests to drop the charges against DeLay and his co-defendants. Defense attorneys have asked that the charges be dropped for various reasons, including alleged misconduct by a prosecutor. "Should the indictments survive the hearings of Nov. 22, we will request a trial date in early December," DeGuerin wrote in his letter to Priest. DeGuerin is also asking that Priest, a visiting judge, move the trial out of left-leaning Travis County to DeLay's home Fort Bend County. DeLay and two of his associates are charged with criminal conspiracy and money laundering in the case, which stems from fund raising and spending in the 2002 Texas legislative races.
Ex-POWs allege soldiersthrew them in with lions
WASHINGTON -- Two Iraqi businessmen, who were imprisoned by U.S. forces in Iraq, claimed Monday that American soldiers threw them into a cage of lions in a Baghdad palace, as part of a terrifying interrogation in 2003. "They took me behind the cage, they were screaming at me, scaring me and beating me a lot," Thahe Mohammed Sabbar said in an interview. "One of the soldiers would open the door, and two soldiers would push me in. The lions came running toward me and they pulled me out and shut the door. I completely lost consciousness." Army spokesman Paul Boyce said he has never heard of lions being used in any detainee operations and it has never come up in any of the more than 400 investigations into detainee abuse conducted by the military over the past three years. "We take every allegation of detainee abuse seriously," Boyce said. Sabbar, 37, and Sherzad Kamal Khalid, 35, are in the United States this week to talk about the lawsuit that the American Civil Liberties Union and Human Rights First filed on their behalf against Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and other military officials.
Associated Press