USA
In the US, about 11 percent of 240,000 Iraqi-Americans eligible to vote in their homeland's election cast ballots. Figures for Saturday's turnout were not available from polling stations in five cities - Chicago; Detroit; Los Angeles; Washington; and Nashville, Tenn. While making the TV talk-show rounds Sunday, new Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the election in Iraq was going "better than expected," based on initial reports.
The arraignment of Juan Manuel Alvarez, the suspect in the California derailment of two commuter trains that killed 11 people last week, was delayed until Feb. 15 at a hearing in Los Angeles Friday. The postponement was granted to allow Alvarez's attorney to gather opinions from medical experts on the accused's state of mind. Alvarez stopped his sport/utility vehicle on the train tracks in Glendale, in an apparent suicide attempt, but then climbed out and fled shortly before one of the trains hit the vehicle.
Teenager Jeffrey Lee Parson apologized to US district court in Seattle and to Microsoft late last week before being sentenced to 18 months in a low-security prison for unleashing an Internet worm that crippled 48,000 computers two years ago. The sentence could have been 10 years, but the judge said his neglectful parents were to blame for the psychological problems that led to his actions. Parson created a variant of the Internet worm called Blaster that has crippled networks worldwide.
New England's first execution in 45 years was abruptly put on hold Saturday after a federal judge reprimanded serial killer Michael Ross's attorney for trying to help his client, who has asked to die and has dropped all appeals, to end his life. The judge said the defense ignored new information, indicating Ross wished to die only because of deplorable death-row conditions. If attorney T.R. Paulding stands by his client's wishes, Ross would be executed Monday night.
A long legal battle ended Saturday with the extradition of murder suspect Augustin Vasquez-Mendoza, who's been on the FBI's most-wanted list, from Mexico City to Phoenix. He faces charges of fatally shooting undercover US Drug Enforcement agent Richard Fass in 1994 to rob him of $160,000 in cash.
