Guantanamo Bay

Judge says Obama can halt force-feeding

A federal judge on Monday condemned the military's practice of force-feeding detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as "painful, humiliating, and degrading" and said President Obama has the authority to stop it. In a forceful four-page opinion, U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler dismissed a Syrian detainee's request to end the force-feeding, saying she lacks jurisdiction to rule on conditions of confinement at the prison. But, Kessler wrote, "there is an individual who does have the authority to address the issue." Forty-five detainees are ­currently being force-fed, out of 106 who are known to be on hunger strikes.

Maryland

Manning's attorneys ask for acquittal

Defense lawyers for Pfc. Bradley Manning asked a military judge at Fort Meade to acquit him of the most serious charge he faces, that of aiding the enemy by providing classified information to WikiLeaks, as they began to present their witnesses at his court-martial. Lead lawyer David Coombs filed four motions asking the judge to find him not guilty of many of the charges on the grounds that prosecutors had not proven them in their five-week presentation. She did not immediately rule and asked for a government response by Thursday.

Alaska

Nine dead in airplane crash were from S.C.

The nine passengers who died in the fiery crash of an air taxi at the Soldotna Municipal Airport on Sunday were all from South Carolina, the Alaska state troopers said. Pilot Walter Rediske, from Nikiski, Alaska, also was killed in the crash. Rediske was scheduled to take guests to a Lake Clark bear viewing lodge on Sunday, the owner of the lodge said.

Cambodia

Opposition leader vows to end his exile

Cambodia's charismatic self-exiled opposition leader has vowed to return to Cambodia ahead of this month's general election to help challenge the 28-year rule of Prime Minister Hun Sen. The government said that Sam Rainsy is welcome home but could face arrest if he returns. Rainsy made the announcement Sunday in a letter to the international community from France where he is living to avoid a 12-year prison sentence on charges widely seen as politically motivated.

South Korea

Cyberspying targeted S. Korea, U.S. military

The hackers who knocked out tens of thousands of South Korean computers simultaneously this year are out to do far more than erase hard drives, cybersecurity firms say. They also are trying to steal South Korean and U.S. military secrets with a malicious set of codes they've been sending through the Internet for years. The identities of the hackers, and the value of any information they have acquired, are not known to U.S. and South Korean researchers who have studied line after line of computer code. But they do not dispute South Korean claims that North Korea is responsible.

news services