Judge recuses self in Mubarak retrial

Judge recuses self in Mubarak retrial

cairo

The judge in Hosni Mubarak’s retrial recused himself at the start of the first session Saturday, citing a conflict of interest as the former Egyptian president appeared in court for the first time in 10 months waving to supporters.

The recusal threw the case deeper into disarray after an appeals court in January overturned a life sentence for Mubarak on a conviction for failing to prevent the killings of protesters during the 2011 uprising that ousted him.

The session lasted only a few minutes, ending after Judge Mostafa Hassan recused himself and referred the case to an appeals court to appoint another judge.

He did not explain the conflict of interest behind the decision.

US reports clash at Guantanamo Bay

miami

Guards clashed Saturday with prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay prison as the military sought to move hunger strikers out of a communal section of the detention center on the U.S. base in Cuba, officials said.

The confrontation occurred after the commander decided to move prisoners into single, solid-walled cells so that prison authorities could monitor them more closely during the hunger strike, the military said.

When guards arrived in the communal to move the men, the prisoners fought back with makeshift weapons, prompting troops to fire four “less-than-lethal rounds” to quell the disturbance, according to a statement issued by Miami-based U.S. Southern Command, which oversees the prison.

There were no major injuries, military officials said.

Bomb planted on bus kills 8 in Pakistan

peshawar, pakistan

A bomb planted in a bus killed at least eight passengers and wounded seven others in northwestern Pakistan on Saturday, police said.

The explosion happened when the bus was passing through a crowded bazaar on its way from Peshawar to a nearby town, police official Fazal Wahid Khan said.

He said the dead and injured included women and children, and authorities had transported them to a government hospital.

Bus driver Jehanghir Khan, who was not hurt, told reporters that the device had been planted under a seat.

No one immediately claimed responsibility.

NY teacher is put on leave over Nazi letter

albany, n.y.

A high school English teacher who had students pretend to be Jew-hating Nazis in a writing assignment has been placed on leave.

The teacher at Albany High School caused a storm of criticism after having students practice the art of persuasive writing by penning a letter to a fictitious Nazi government official arguing that “Jews are evil.”

District Superintendent Marguerite Vanden Wyngaard held a news conference Friday to apologize for the assignment.

The Times Union news-paper reported Saturday that the teacher was not in class Friday and had been placed on leave by the school district.

The district has not named the teacher, who was described as a veteran.

The writing assignment was done before a planned class reading of the memoir “Night,” by Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel.

Associated Press