Airport Terminal Cleared; Explosives Residue Found

CEREDO, W.Va. — A West Virginia airport terminal was evacuated yesterday after two bottles of liquid found in a woman’s carry-on luggage twice tested positive for explosives residue, a Transportation Security Administration spokeswoman said. “It looks like there were four items containing liquids,” a TSA spokeswoman, Amy von Walter, said. “Two of those containers tested positive.” A machine that security checkpoint screeners use to test for explosives registered positive, and a canine team also got a positive hit, Ms. von Walter said. Officials were conducting field tests last night, Captain Jack Chambers, head of the State Police Special Operations unit, said.

— Associated Press

CIA Contractor Convicted In Afghan Detainee Attack

RALEIGH, N.C. — A former CIA contractor accused of severely beating an Afghan detainee with a flashlight during questioning was found guilty yesterday of assault. The beaten detainee later died, but David Passaro, 40, was not charged in his death. The federal jury found him guilty after about eight hours of deliberations of three counts of simple assault and one count of assault resulting in serious bodily injury. Passaro faces up to 11 1/2 years in prison. Passaro was the first American civilian to be charged with mistreating a detainee during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was accused of beating Abdul Wali while the man was being questioned in 2003 about rocket attacks on a remote base where Passaro was stationed with American and Afghan troops. The prosecutor, Jim Candelmo, said Passaro beat Wali “mercilessly for 48 hours before he died.”

— Associated Press

Man Sues New Orleans Over Mother’s Death

NEW ORLEANS — The son of a 91-year-old woman who died in her wheelchair while waiting to be rescued from the city’s convention center in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina sued the city and state yesterday. Herbert Freeman Jr.’s lawsuit accuses numerous state agencies and the city of New Orleans of “gross negligence and willful misconduct” in the death of his mother, Ethel Freeman. He plans to file a second lawsuit in federal court against the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Her son’s lawyer, John Paul Massicot, said Ethel Freeman had been instructed to go the fetid convention center. “Let’s not forget, she survived the storm. … She didn’t survive the rescue,” Mr. Massicot said. At the shelter, they found teeming crowds and no food, water, or buses. As his mother began to slip away in the suffocating heat, Mr. Freeman pleaded for medical help, but none was available. She died 24 hours after reaching the convention center.

— Associated Press

Harvard Review Clears Professor of Misconduct

BOSTON — A Harvard review has found that a dentistry professor did not commit research misconduct while looking into potential links between fluoride in drinking water and a rare form of bone cancer. The Environmental Working Group, a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group, filed an ethics complaint against a professor of oral health policy and epidemiology at Harvard’s School of Dental Medicine, Chester Douglass, in 2005, claiming he downplayed research that showed an increased risk of the bone cancer osteosarcoma for boys who drink fluoridated tap water.

— Associated Press

Questions Arise About Ramsey Case Confession

BOULDER, Colo. — Authorities yesterday cautioned against rushing to judge the schoolteacher who made a stunning confession that he killed JonBenet Ramsey. Questions have already been raised about the details of John Mark Karr’s story. Mr. Karr told investigators he drugged and sexually assaulted the little girl before accidentally killing her in her Boulder home. Yet JonBenet’s autopsy report found no evidence of drugs, saying her death was caused by strangulation after a beating that included a fractured skull, and investigators concluded there was no semen on Jon-Benet’s body. According to Thai police, Karr also said he picked JonBenet up at school and took her back to her home. But the slaying came during the holiday vacation season. Mr. Karr, 41, was arrested at a Bangkok apartment Wednesday, a day after he began teaching second grade at an international school.

— Associated Press