2 soldiers arraigned in deaths of detainees

2 soldiers arraignedin deaths of detainees
FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. -- Two soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division were arraigned Thursday on murder charges in the death of Iraqi detainees last summer. Pfc. Corey R. Clagett and Spc. William B. Hunsaker are accused of killing three Iraqi men detained during a raid in May on a suspected al-Qaida stronghold about 60 miles north of Baghdad. Both declined to enter formal pleas in separate Army hearings, but their civilian attorneys proclaimed their innocence. Clagett and Hunsaker, who are accused along with two other soldiers, claim they were ordered to kill "all military-aged males" by their brigade commander and other commanders who oversaw the operation.
Officials link wild pigsto contaminated spinach
WASHINGTON -- Wild pigs may have spread deadly bacteria onto a California spinach field, sparking an outbreak that killed three people and sickened more than 200 others nationwide, investigators said Thursday. They also said the outbreak appears to be over. No one has become ill from eating contaminated spinach since Sept. 25. "All evidence points to this outbreak having concluded," said Dr. Kevin Reilly of the California Department of Health Services. State and federal investigators have narrowed their focus to the ranch, where boar trampled fences that had hemmed in a spinach field. Samples taken from a wild pig, as well as from stream water and cattle on the ranch, have tested positive for the same strain of E. coli implicated in the outbreak, Reilly said.
Sniper talks to Ariz. cops
COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- Convicted Washington-area sniper Lee Boyd Malvo met Thursday with Arizona police who are investigating whether he and cohort John Allen Muhammad were involved in a fa tal shooting there in March 2002, Malvo's lawyer said. Malvo spent about two hours speaking with Tucson detectives at the Montgomery County Correctional Facility in Maryland about the shooting, William Brennan said. Tucson police have long sought to speak with Malvo about the March 19, 2002, death of Jerry Taylor, 60, who died from a single gunshot fired from long range as he practiced chip shots at the Tucson course.
Sacred marriage must bedefended, Bush says
DES MOINES -- President Bush said the "sacred institution" of marriage between a man and a woman must be defended against what he called activist court rulings. Bush briefly brought up the topic, unprompted, while raising money here for a Republican congressional candidate, a day after the New Jersey Supreme Court decided that same-sex couples must be given the same rights as married people. The court left it up to the state's Legislature to decide whether to extend those rights under the structure of marriage, civil unions or something else. The president said the ruling "raises doubts about the institution of marriage." "I believe marriage is a union between a man and a woman," he said. "I believe it's a sacred institution that is critical to the health of our society and the well-being of families, and it must be defended."
Outrage in Australiaover cleric's comments
SYDNEY, Australia -- Australia's most prominent Islamic cleric vowed Thursday to stand strong against widespread outrage over his description of women who don't wear head scarfs as "uncovered meat" who invite rape. Sheik Taj Aldin al-Hilali, long a lightning rod in strained relations between the government and the Muslim minority, apologized for any offense he caused women in making the comments a month ago during a sermon marking the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. But he said he had no intention of stepping down. Instead, al-Hilali will not give sermons for two or three months, though he will not face censure for his comments.
Peru bus crash kills 20
LIMA, Peru -- At least 20 people were killed and 12 others were injured Thursday when a passenger bus crashed down an embankment in Peru's southern Andes, police said. The accident occurred on a highway connecting the village of Majes with Peru's second-largest city, Arequipa, about 525 miles southeast of the capital of Lima.
Associated Press
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