Court orders US to halt ban on gays

Court orders US to halt ban on gays

SAN FRANCISCO

A federal appeals court ordered the U.S. government on Wednesday to immediately cease enforcing the ban on openly gay members of the military, a move that could speed the end of the 17-year-old rule.

Congress repealed the policy in December, and the Pentagon already is preparing to welcome gay military personnel, said the ruling from a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. There’s no longer any purpose for a stay the appeals court had placed on a lower- court ruling that overturned “don’t ask, don’t tell,” the judges said.

In the meantime, the court order blocks the military from discharging anyone based on sexual orientation, a Pentagon spokesman said.

Feds: Terrorists look to implant bombs

WASHINGTON

Airlines are being warned by the government that terrorists are considering surgically hiding bombs inside humans to evade airport security. As a result, travelers may find themselves subjected to more scrutiny when flying in the heart of summer vacation season, especially to the U.S. from abroad.

The FBI and Homeland Security Department sent a memo to security officials around the country Wednesday about “body packing,” describing it as a “criminal tactic with possible terrorist application.”

The memo, obtained by The Associated Press, cited a 2005 incident in which Colombian men were accused of surgically implanting narcotics into human couriers.

Marine copter crashes at base

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif.

A Marine Corps helicopter crashed Wednesday afternoon at the sprawling coastal base of Camp Pendleton, injuring the six personnel aboard.

The helicopter belonging to the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing at Camp Pendleton went down about noon in the northern section of the San Diego County base, said 1st Lt. Maureen Dooley, a spokeswoman at the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar. The section is a remote mountainous area where the Marine Corps conducts air trainings.

Officials didn’t immediately release details about the injuries, or say whether any were life-threatening.

Grizzly kills hiker at Yellowstone park

CHEYENNE, Wyo.

A grizzly bear killed a man who was hiking with his wife in Yellowstone National Park’s backcountry after the couple apparently surprised the female bear and its cubs Wednesday, park officials said.

It was the park’s first fatal grizzly mauling since 1986, but the third in the Yellowstone region in just over a year amid ever-growing numbers of grizzlies and tourists roaming the same wild landscape of scalding-hot geysers and sweeping mountain vistas.

Syrian forces cited in Amnesty report

BEIRUT

The rights group Amnesty International said Wednesday that Syrian security forces may have committed crimes against humanity during a deadly siege of an opposition town in May, citing witness accounts of deaths in custody, torture and arbitrary detention.

The Amnesty report focused on a crackdown in Talkalakh, a town near the Lebanese border that was overrun by army tank units, security forces and pro-regime gunmen after weeks of protests calling for the ouster of President Bashar Assad. Some activists place the Talkalakh death toll as high as 36. Thousands of people also fled to Lebanon to escape the offensive.

Associated Press