WASHINGTON, D.C.

No charges over CIA interrogations The Justice Department said it has ended its investigation into CIA interrogations of terrorist detainees without bringing criminal charges. The decision in the probes of the deaths of two terror suspects marks the end of a wide-ranging criminal investigation by federal prosecutor John Durham into interrogation practices during the presidency of George W. Bush. In the past three years, Durham has looked into the treatment of 101 detainees in U.S. custody since 9/11. The approach taken in the probe was not to prosecute anyone who acted in good faith and within the scope of the legal guidance given by the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel regarding the interrogation of detainees. Former CIA Director Michael Hayden said he was "heartened that the investigation is complete."

Pentagon warns SEAL author of legal action The Pentagon formally warned a former Navy SEAL who has written a first-person account of the May 2011 raid that killed Osama bin Laden that he has violated his signed agreement not to divulge classified information and threatened him with "all legal remedies available to us." Pentagon general counsel Jeh Johnson added in the letter to author Matt Bissonnette: "In the judgment of the Department of Defense, you are in material breach and violation of the non-disclosure agreements you signed." Bissonnette did not submit the book, "No Easy Day," to the Pentagon for review, even though he was required to do so, Johnson said. The account is the first by a member of SEAL Team 6, which carried out the assault on Bin Laden's compound in Pakistan.

FLORIDA

New judge named in Zimmerman case Circuit Judge Debra Nelson, a 13-year veteran of the bench in Sanford with a reputation for handing down tough sentences, was assigned the George Zimmerman second-degree murder case after the previous judge was ordered by an appeals court panel to step aside on Wednesday because of comments unfavorable to Zimmerman that he made at a bond hearing. Zimmerman is being tried in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin.

TEXAS

Man on lam convicted in sexual assault A jury deliberated for about 20 minutes before convicting a man of sexually assaulting a then-11-year-old girl who prosecutors say was raped by 20 men and boys over a matter of months two years ago in her hometown of Cleveland, 45 miles northeast of Houston. An arrest warrant has been issued for the defendant, Eric McGowen, 20, who skipped out of court during a break in the proceedings Wednesday.

AFGHANISTAN

NATO copter crash kills 2 Australians A NATO helicopter crashed Thursday in southern Afghanistan, killing two Australian troops and bringing that country's military fatalities to five in less than 24 hours. Three other Australians died Wednesday in an "insider" shooting by an assailant in an Afghan military uniform. Australia has about 1,500 troops in Afghanistan.

AUSTRALIA

90 migrants missing as ship goes down Ninety or more people remained missing after a boat carrying about 150 asylum-seekers from the Middle East heading for Australia sank off Indonesia. The Australian home affairs minister, Jason Clare, said a massive search-and-rescue effort was underway about 40 miles south of Java. Several ships in the area reported picking up survivors.

Miners' deaths blamed on miners

Two weeks after the police opened fire on wildcat strikers at a platinum mine near Johannesburg, South Africa, killing 34, prosecutors are bringing murder charges against a surprising set of suspects: the miners themselves. Using an obscure legal doctrine often applied in South Africa's apartheid days, prosecutors did not accuse the police officers who shot and killed the strikers. Instead, they were pursuing murder charges against the 270 miners who were arrested after the shooting stopped.

NEWS SERVICES