Tsarnaev lawyers lose appeal for delay

Tsarnaev lawyers lose appeal for delay

BOSTON

The trial of marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev can begin as scheduled Monday in Boston after a federal appeals court ruled that the defense had not met the “extraordinary” standard required to justify its intervention.

The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals announced its decision Saturday. Tsarnaev’s lawyer had asked the court to delay the trial and move it out of Massachusetts, saying he couldn’t get a fair trial in a place where so many were affected by the bombings.

Heat delays search for bodies on ferry

BRINDISI, Italy

For a second day, fierce heat from a slow-burning blaze kept firefighters and other investigators from searching the hold and vehicle decks of a Greek ferry for more bodies Saturday.

At least 11 people perished in the pre-dawn blaze last Sunday aboard the Atlantic, on a voyage between Greece and Italy. Authorities fear more bodies might be inside the vehicle deck where the fire began.

Idaho, Calif. quakes

CHALLIS, Idaho

A magnitude-4.9 earthquake in a remote Idaho county triggered rock slides that blocked some road lanes Saturday but did not cause any major damage or injuries.

Also, the U.S. Geological Survey said a magnitude-4.5 quake hit north of Los Angeles about 7:18 PST Saturday and was centered close to 50 miles north of Los Angeles near the town of Castaic.

Embassy bombing suspect dies in NY

NEW YORK

A Libyan man who was to be tried in New York this year on charges that he helped al-Qaida orchestrate the bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa has died from “long-standing medical problems,” officials said in court documents filed Saturday.

Abu Anas al Liby, whose real name was Nazih Abuld-Hamed Ruquai, had been in custody in New York since October 2013. A brief letter from the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, Preet Bharara, to the judge presiding over Al Liby’s case said that he was taken from the Metropolitan Correctional Center to a New York hospital Dec. 24 “due to sudden complications” arising from his health problems.

US Sen. Rockefeller starts retirement

CHARLESTON, W.Va.

U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller is heading into retirement after a half-century of public service.

The five-term senator from West Virginia says he “could not imagine a more rewarding career.”

Rockefeller is the last member of the Rockefeller family dynasty in political office — and the only Democrat.

He arrived in West Virginia in 1964 as a social worker and switched party affiliations two years later when he was elected to the state House of Delegates. After stints as secretary of state, a college president and as governor, he was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1984.

At least 20 Christians abducted in Libya

CAIRO

Masked gunmen in central Libya kidnapped 13 Coptic Christians on Saturday after seven were abducted days earlier, said a witness and a priest, in a new wave of assaults against Egypt’s Christians working in the war-torn North African nation plagued with Islamic extremists.

Witness Hanna Aziz told The Associated Press that the gunmen in the Libyan city of Sirte went room to room in their residence at 2:30 a.m. Saturday and asked for identification papers to separate Muslim workers from Christians. Aziz says the gunmen handcuffed the Christians and drove away with them.

Combined dispatches