Utah clerks can finish paperwork

Utah clerks can finish paperwork

SALT LAKE CITY

Local clerks in Utah can finish paperwork for same-sex marriages completed before the U.S. Supreme Court issued a temporary halt Monday, the state’s attorney general said Thursday.

Attorney General Sean Reyes’ office issued the legal advice to county clerks Thursday afternoon.

The directive comes as Utah officials struggle with the knotty legal mess that gay marriage created in the state in recent weeks.

More than 1,000 gay and lesbian couples took home marriage licenses from local clerks after a federal judge overturned Utah’s same-sex marriage ban Dec. 20. Utah voters approved the ban in 2004.

The Supreme Court halted them Monday by granting Utah a stay on the federal judge’s ruling that two other courts previously denied.

The stay remains in effect while the Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals considers the long-term question of whether gay couples have a right to wed in Utah.

Quake strikes off Cuba coast

HAVANA

A magnitude-5.1 earthquake struck in the Straits of Florida off Cuba on Thursday, startling office workers in medium-rise buildings set swaying in Havana. There was no word of any damage or injuries.

The temblor occurred just before 4 p.m. about 106 miles east of Havana, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The closest city to the epicenter was Corralillo, 17 miles to the southwest.

In Old Havana, the quake was felt by workers in two six-floor buildings that were temporarily evacuated. It appeared to last about 30 seconds.

6 men found dead in 4 cars in Russia

MOSCOW

Six men are dead in a series of unexplained killings involving booby-trapped bombs in southern Russia, further heightening security fears ahead of next month’s Winter Olympics in Sochi.

Investigators were scrambling Thursday to find those responsible for the six bodies found Wednesday in four abandoned cars just north of Russia’s volatile Caucasus Mountains region, where an Islamic insurgency is simmering.

Explosive devices had been placed near three of the cars, although only one of the bombs went off, and no one was hurt. The victims had been shot, according to investigators.

Nuclear officers target of drug probe

F.E. WARREN AIR FORCE BASE, Wyo.

Hoping to boost sagging morale, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel made a rare visit Thursday to an Air Force nuclear-missile base and the men and women who operate and safeguard the nation’s Minuteman 3 missiles. But his attempt to cheer the troops was tempered by news that launch officers at another base had been implicated in an illegal-narcotics investigation.

Two officers at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana are being investigated for allegations of drug possession, said a service spokesman in Washington, Lt. Col. Brett Ashworth. Both of those being investigated are ICBM launch officers with responsibility for operating intercontinental ballistic missiles.

Minn. man returns from UAE jail term

MINNEAPOLIS

An American man returned to Minnesota on Thursday after spending nine months in prison in the United Arab Emirates for his role in making and posting online a satirical video about youth culture in Dubai.

Shezanne Cassim, 29, of Woodbury, Minn., told reporters that he did nothing wrong and that there was nothing illegal about the video.

Associated Press