In the Nation
Demjanjuk wins deportation stay
CLEVELAND - John Demjanjuk, an Ohio man accused of being a Nazi death-camp guard, marked his 89th birthday yesterday by winning a reprieve of his ordered deportation to Germany to face possible trial.
Immigration Judge Wayne Iskra in Arlington, Va., ordered the deportation put on hold until the court could rule on Demjanjuk's request to reopen the U.S. case that ordered his removal. Germany had expected him to be deported by Monday.
Demjanjuk, a retired autoworker who lives outside Cleveland, has argued that deporting him would amount to torture, given his frail health.
A German arrest warrant issued in March accuses the Ukraine-born Demjanjuk of 29,000 counts of acting as an accessory to murder at the Sobibor camp in occupied Poland during World War II.
Separately, federal prosecutors filed papers in immigration court in Philadelphia seeking to deport a Sharon, Pa., man who was a guard at Nazi camps. Anton Geiser, 84, of Mercer County, whose citizenship was granted in 1962 and revoked in 2006, previously lost a bid to have the Supreme Court reexamine his case. - AP
N.Y. House race is now dead even
ALBANY, N.Y. - The already close race in New York's 20th Congressional District just got as close as it can get: The state Board of Elections says the candidates' vote totals are dead even.
Republican Jim Tedisco and Democrat Scott Murphy were tied yesterday with 77,225 votes each. The winner will succeed Kirsten Gillibrand, who was appointed to the Senate.
The race will come down to absentee votes, with the Elections Board reporting 3,000 ballots returned so far from Republicans and about 2,200 from Democrats. Most absentee ballots won't be counted until Tuesday; overseas ballots can be returned until April 13. - AP
Elsewhere:
Chief Justice
John G. Roberts Jr. yesterday granted the Obama administration's request to block the release of certain sex offenders who have completed their federal prison terms. Roberts said as many as 77 inmates could be held at a North Carolina prison at least until the Supreme Court decides whether to hear the administration's appeal. A lower court earlier invalidated a law allowing the indefinite commitment of "sexually dangerous" inmates.