WASHINGTON

APPEALS COURT CLOSES FBI CASE ARGUMENTS TO PUBLIC

A federal appeals court turned aside efforts to open to the public closed-door arguments yesterday in the case of a fired FBI contractor who alleged there were security breaches and misconduct at the bureau. Sibel Edmonds is seeking to revive her lawsuit against the government. It was thrown out of U.S. District Court when the Bush administration invoked the state secrets privilege, which allows the government to withhold information to safeguard national security.

Ms. Edmonds says she was dismissed from her job as a wiretap translator because she told superiors she suspected a coworker was leaking information to targets of an ongoing FBI probe. A three-judge panel closed the court arguments, even though Ms. Edmonds’s allegations have been outlined in court papers, in a report by the Justice Department’s inspector general and on Capitol Hill.

Ms. Edmonds said her information, if aggressively pursued, would lead to criminal prosecutions. The court’s unusual decision to close arguments prompted a challenge by Ms. Edmonds’s American Civil Liberties Union attorneys. That challenge was supported by press organizations including the Associated Press. Two private groups, the Project on Government Oversight and Public Citizen, also joined the effort.

– Associated Press

SENATE SEEKS TO END FUNDING FOR CISNEROS INVESTIGATOR

The Senate agreed yesterday to cut off money to the decade-long investigation of the former secretary of housing and urban development, Henry Cisneros, which has cost nearly $21 million. Legislation that provides money for American operations in Iraq and Afghanistan includes an amendment sponsored by Senator Dorgan, a Democrat of North Dakota, to stop spending by June 1 on the probe led by independent counsel David Barrett. The Senate added the amendment on a voice vote this week.

A report by the Government Accountability Office, Congress’s investigative arm, shows Mr. Barrett spent $1.26 million during the six months ending September 30, 2004. The largest expenses were for salaries and benefits and contracted services. Mr. Dorgan’s amendment would require a detailed report on spending by July. Differences between the House and Senate versions of the American operations bill must be resolved in a conference committee.

Mr. Cisneros admitted in 1999 that, when being considered for a Cabinet job, he lied to the FBI about how much he paid a former mistress. Mr. Cisneros, housing secretary from 1993-96, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and was fined $10,000. President Clinton pardoned Mr. Cisneros in January 2001.

– Associated Press

SOUTH

MILITARY JURY CONVICTS SERGEANT OF MURDER

FORT BRAGG, N.C. – An Army sergeant was convicted yesterday by a military jury of premeditated murder and attempted murder in a grenade and rifle attack that killed two of his comrades and wounded 14 others in Kuwait during the opening days of the Iraq war. Hasan Akbar, 34, now faces a possible death penalty, which the 15-member jury will consider at a hearing that begins Monday.

Prosecutors say Akbar told investigators he launched the attack because he was concerned American troops would kill fellow Muslims in Iraq. They said he coolly carried out the attack to achieve “maximum carnage” on his comrades in the 101st Airborne Division.

The verdict came after 2 1/2 hours of deliberations following seven days of testimony in a court-martial – the first time since the Vietnam era that an American has been prosecuted on charges of murdering a fellow soldier during wartime.

Akbar stood at attention as the verdict was read by the colonel who headed the jury panel, chewing his lip but giving no other outward sign of emotion. Defense attorneys acknowledged that Akbar carried out the attack, but argued he was too mentally ill to have premeditated it and was fueled by emotion.

– Associated Press

WEST

3 PILOTS DIE IN CALIFORNIA AIR-TANKER CRASH

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – An air tanker designed to drop retardant during wildfires crashed on a training flight in a remote forest, killing all three pilots onboard, federal officials said.

The cause was under investigation, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Donn Walker said. The tanker was set to begin fighting fires next month after safety concerns grounded it and similar planes a year ago, federal officials said.

The plane, a P-3 Orion tanker, went down Wednesday evening in a rugged area of the Lassen National Forest, about 120 miles north of Sacramento.

The steep terrain prevented a rescue helicopter from landing at the crash site, forcing search-and-rescue teams to hike two to three miles to reach the wreckage, forest spokeswoman Leona Rodreick said. “It’s a fairly remote spot, and it took them a while to find a route in,” Ms. Rodreick said. “There are no roads or trails.” The crash caused a fire that burned more than two acres yesterday, and a helicopter and 20 firefighters worked to contain the blaze, officials said.

– Associated Press

YAHOO PROVIDES FAMILY WITH E-MAIL ACCOUNT OF MARINE KILLED IN IRAQ

WIXOM, Mich. – E-mail provider Yahoo has pledged to give the family of a Marine killed in Iraq full access to their son’s e-mail account, ending a legal tangle that began after his parents sought messages he wrote before his death.

An Oakland County probate judge signed an order Wednesday directing Yahoo Incorporated to provide the contents of the e-mail account used by Lance Corporal Justin Ellsworth, 20, who was killed November 13 while inspecting a bomb in Anbar province. Yahoo, which originally refused the family’s request to hand over the account, did not fight the order and gave the family a CD containing more than 10,000 pages of material.

But John Ellsworth, Justin’s father, said he found only e-mails his son received and nothing he had written, even e-mails the younger Ellsworth had sent home.

– Associated Press