Marine’s father ordered to pay fees

Marine’s father ordered to pay fees

BALTIMORE

The father of a Marine killed in Iraq and whose funeral was picketed by anti-gay protesters was ordered to pay the protesters’ appeal costs, his lawyers said Monday.

On Friday, Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ordered Snyder to pay $16,510 to Fred Phelps. Phelps is the leader of the Westboro Baptist Church, which conducted protests at Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder’s funeral in 2006.

The two-page decision supplied by attorneys for Albert Snyder of York, Pa., offered no details on how the court came to its decision.

The decision adds “insult to injury,” said Sean Summers, one of Snyder’s lawyers.

Clinton: China in agreement on Iran

OTTAWA

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday that China agrees Iran must not become a nuclear-weapons power and that the fellow Security Council member will play a role in forging sanctions against the Islamic republic at the United Nations.

In the Canadian capital for a meeting of top diplomats from the Group of Eight leading industrialized democracies, Clinton said that despite China’s general opposition to international sanctions, it will contribute to the process at the U.N. Security Council.

The U.S. is leading the charge to penalize Iran for refusing to prove that its nuclear ambitions are peaceful. China is a permanent member of the Security Council and can block new sanctions with a veto, so its support for sanctions will be crucial.

hResidents brace for more flooding

BOSTON

Nervous residents along the sodden East Coast watched rivers rise Monday as they braced for a new round of flooding — and the wettest March on record in some areas.

The National Weather Service posted flood warnings and advisories from Maine to the Carolinas as forecasts called for as much as 5 to 7 inches of rain over the next three days. The storm threatened to push already-swollen rivers over their banks and add to the misery of homeowners still struggling to bail out flooded basements from other recent storms in the Northeast.

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick declared a state of emergency Monday and mobilized as many as 1,000 National Guardsmen to assist in the event of major flooding.

Hamas seizes money from bank

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip

Hamas seized $270,000 from a Gaza bank Monday that had been frozen by the Palestinian government in the West Bank, sparking new feuding between the Gaza militants and their Western-backed rivals.

The seizure, which Hamas said was backed by an order from a Hamas-run court, was the latest power play by the radical Islamic group, which violently took control of the Gaza Strip from forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in 2007. Since then, Abbas’ Palestinian Authority has governed only the West Bank. Efforts to reconcile the two sides have failed.

Associated Press