Nation & World Digest || Senate extends Patriot Act measures

Senate extends Patriot Act measures

WASHINGTON

The Senate on Tuesday voted to extend for 90 days the legal life of three post-Sept. 11 terrorism-fighting measures, including the use of roving wiretaps, that are set to expire at the end of the month. The short-term extension gives lawmakers a chance to review the measures that critics from both the right and left say are unconstitutional infringements on personal liberties.

CBS News’ Logan attacked in Egypt

NEW YORK

CBS News correspondent Lara Logan was recovering in a U.S. hospital Tuesday from a sexual attack and beating she suffered while reporting on the tumultuous events in Cairo. Logan was in the city’s Tahrir Square on Friday after Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak stepped down when she, her team and their security “were surrounded by a dangerous element amidst the celebration,” CBS said in a statement Tuesday.

Iran officials: Put opposition to death

TEHRAN, Iran

Hard-line Iranian lawmakers called Tuesday for the country’s opposition leaders to face trial and be put to death, a day after clashes between opposition protesters and security forces left two people dead and dozens injured.

Tens of thousands of people turned out for the opposition rally Monday in solidarity with Egypt’s popular revolt that toppled President Hosni Mubarak after nearly 30 years in power. The demonstration was the first major show of strength from Iran’s beleaguered opposition after canceling planned rallies for the past year when authorities refused permission.

Civil-union vote in Hawaii delayed

HONOLULU

The Hawaii Senate has delayed a final vote on same-sex civil unions by one day because of procedural concerns.

The Senate was poised Tuesday to pass civil-unions legislation and send the bill to the governor for his signature, but Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Clayton Hee proposed the delay to make sure there was adequate public notice after the bill reached the Senate.

The measure had passed the House on Friday.

Hawaii would become the seventh state to grant essentially the same rights of marriage to same-sex couples without authorizing marriage itself.

1 US agent wounded, 1 dead in Mexico

MEXICO CITY

A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent was killed and another wounded while driving through northern Mexico on Tuesday, in a rare attack on American officials in this country that is fighting powerful drug cartels.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said one agent was critically wounded in the attack and died from his injuries. The second agent was shot in the arm and leg and remains in stable condition.

Veterans: Rape cases mishandled

WASHINGTON

More than a dozen U.S. veterans who say they were raped or assaulted by comrades filed a class-action suit in federal court Tuesday attempting to force the Pentagon to change how it handles such cases.

The current and former service members — 15 women and two men — describe circumstances in which servicemen purportedly got away with rape and other sexual abuse while their victims were ordered to continue to serve with them.

The suit names Defense Secretary Robert Gates and his predecessor, Donald H. Rumsfeld.

Associated Press