In the Nation
3d space walk is fast work for pair
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - A pair of Atlantis astronauts zipped through the third and final space walk of their mission yesterday, helping to install a 1,200-pound oxygen tank at the International Space Station and accomplishing everything else on their list."You mean there's nothing left for us to do?" Randolph Bresnik asked as his 51/2-hour space walk with surgeon-astronaut Robert Satcher Jr. wrapped up. He was assured no work remained.
Bresnik, still celebrating the weekend birth of his daughter, Abigail Mae, was jazzed for the excursion. "Hey, Wyatt, I look just like Spider-Man," he called out to his 31/2-year-old son as he clambered along the station's latticelike framework. The two crews will close the hatches between their spacecraft today, and Atlantis will undock tomorrow. - AP
8 charged in Minn. Somali terror case
WASHINGTON - Eight people have been charged in an investigation into men who left the Minneapolis area to train with an extremist group in Somalia, the Justice Department said.The charges, unsealed yesterday in federal court in Minneapolis, include providing financial support to those who traveled to Somalia to fight on behalf of the group al-Shabaab, a Justice statement said.
About 20 men, all except one of Somalian descent, allegedly traveled from the Minneapolis area to Somalia between September 2007 and last month to train with al-Shabaab, and many allegedly fought with the group against Ethiopian forces, African Union troops, and the transitional government.
Shirwa Ahmed, who left Minnesota in 2007 and attended an al-Shabaab training camp, participated last year in a suicide attack in northern Somalia, the Justice Department said. - Bloomberg News
Nev. ACORN aide gets probation
LAS VEGAS - A former Las Vegas supervisor for the political advocacy group ACORN was sentenced yesterday to up to three years' probation for his role in a plan to pay canvassers to register Nevada voters during last year's presidential campaign."I just want to say I take responsibility for what I did," Christopher Edwards, 33, told a judge who said that he was "not pleased, to say the least," by allegations that the group paid bonuses to canvassers who collected 21 or more voter-registration cards in August and September 2008.
The judge approved a plea agreement granting Edwards probation in return for his testimony against ACORN and a former regional supervisor. Edwards was also fined $500 and ordered to perform community service. - AP
Elsewhere:
The District of Columbia agreed to pay more than $13 million to settle a class-action lawsuit involving 680 protesters arrested during demonstrations in 2000 tied to meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
Seemingly contradicting his own public statements, an attorney for Scott Roeder, accused of gunning down Kansas abortion provider George Tiller in May, has argued in court documents that Roeder has an "absolute right" to present a defense that argues that the killing was justified to stop abortion. Attorney Steve Osburn suggested he may have used the media to confuse prosecutors about his defense strategy.
