U.S. & WORLD NEWS DIGEST | Obama restarts Guantanamo trials

Obama restarts Guantanamo trials

WASHINGTON

President Barack Obama reversed course Monday and ordered a resumption of military trials for terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, making his once-ironclad promise to close the isolated prison look even more distant.

Obama made the change with clear reluctance, bowing to the reality that Congress’ vehement opposition to trying detainees on U.S. soil leaves them nowhere else to go. The president emphasized his preference for trials in federal civilian courts, and his administration blamed congressional meddling for closing off that avenue.

Panel: Military brass too male, too white

WASHINGTON

The U.S. military is too white and too male at the top and needs to change recruiting and promotion policies and lift its ban on women in combat, an independent report for Congress said Monday. Seventy-seven percent of senior officers in the active-duty military are white, while only 8 percent are black, 5 percent are Hispanic and 16 percent are women, the report by an independent panel said, quoting data from September 2008.

Lawyer reveals Van der Sloot plea

LIMA, Peru

Joran van der Sloot plans to plead guilty to killing a young Peruvian woman he met gambling but will argue temporary insanity in a bid to shorten his sentence, his defense lawyer said Monday.

Van der Sloot, the key suspect in the 2005 disappearance of U.S. teenager Natalee Holloway on the Caribbean island of Aruba, will use a “violent emotion” defense in the slaying of Stephany Flores, attorney Maximo Altez told The Associated Press.

Altez said he filed papers three weeks ago informing prosecutors of his intent to argue that Van der Sloot became enraged and killed the 21-year-old Peruvian business student last May 30 because she had learned of his relation to Holloway by looking in his laptop.

The 23-year-old Dutchman is accused of first- degree murder, which carries a 15- to 35-year sentence on conviction.

Source: Locke to get China-envoy nod

WASHINGTON

President Barack Obama will nominate Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, the son and grandson of Chinese immigrants, to be the next U.S. ambassador to China, a senior administration official said Monday. A formal announcement could come as early as today.

If confirmed by the Senate, Locke would succeed Jon Huntsman, one of the few Republicans in Obama’s administration.

Locke is the first Chinese American to serve as commerce secretary. Both his father and grandfather were born in China.

Snow, flooding slam New England, NY

MONTPELIER, Vt.

A fierce storm late in a snow-heavy winter blanketed northern New England and upstate New York with up to 30 inches of snow Monday, while western Connecticut was deluged with so much rain that parts of homes and cars floated down a swollen river.

Thirty inches of snow was reported in Jericho in northwestern Vermont at midday, the National Weather Service said, and the Burlington Airport saw its biggest March snowfall on record: 24.3 inches of snow by 5 p.m.

Associated Press