World/nation briefs

Mixed verdict in Army suicide case A court-martial found Army Sgt. Adam Holcomb guilty of maltreatment and assault of Pvt. Danny Chen, a 19-year-old Asian-American soldier who committed suicide in Afghanistan on Oct. 3. But a panel of 10 service members found Holcomb not guilty of the more serious charges of negligent homicide, reckless endangerment, communicating a threat and hazing. Prosecutors had accused Holcomb of hounding Chen into committing suicide by subjecting him to physical abuse and ethnic slurs. The panel's finding will be delivered to the commanding general of Fort Bragg, who will make a final ruling.

Five ATF officials singled out in GOP report After an 18-month investigation into Operation Fast and Furious, a GOP congressional draft report concludes that five officials at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives share much of the blame for what went wrong with the gun-smuggling probe in Arizona. In Fast and Furious, agents used a controversial tactic called gun-walking designed to track guns to major weapons traffickers and drug cartels. But many of the weapons wound up at crime scenes in Mexico and the United States, including the site of a shootout on the U.S. side that resulted in the death of border agent Brian Terry.

Panda gives birth to sixth cub at zoo Giant panda Bai Yun gave birth to her sixth cub since arriving at the San Diego Zoo. The 4-ounce cub and mother appeared to be doing fine, according to zoo officials. Under a loan agreement, four of the cubs born to Bai Yun have been sent back to China.

Colombia out as No. 1 cocaine producer Peru has regained its former spot as the world's top cocaine producer, according to an annual White House report that said Colombia's output fell sharply last year, putting the former leader in third place behind Bolivia. The White House report estimated Peruvian cocaine production last year at 358 U.S. tons, followed by Bolivia at 292 tons and Colombia at 215 tons. It's the first year since 1997 that Colombia has not led in global cocaine output in the report. Peru was the world's leading producer through most of the 1980s and 1990s.

U.S. audit: $200M wasted on police training U.S. auditors have concluded that more than $200 million was wasted on a program to train Iraqi police that Baghdad says is neither needed nor wanted. The Police Development Program was envisioned as a five-year, multibillion-dollar push to train security forces after the U.S. military left last December. But Iraqi political leaders, anxious to keep their distance from the Americans, were unenthusiastic. A report by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction found that the American Embassy in Baghdad never got a written commitment from Iraq to participate.