 A judge has rejected a plea deal in which a former teacher would have avoided prison time for having sex with a 14-year-old student, prosecutors said. Debra Lafave walked into a Florida court expecting the judge to rubber stamp the plea agreement she made with prosecutors last month, CBS News correspondent Jim Acosta reports. But the judge had other plans. Lafave left the courthouse in tears. Under an agreement reached last month, Lafave, 25, would have been sentenced to three years of house arrest and seven years' probation after pleading guilty to two counts of lewd and lascivious battery. Had she been convicted of the charges at trial, she could have been sentenced to 30 years in prison. Where were teachers like this when I was going to school? I sure wouldn’t have thought it was any crime. ...
http://www.cbsnews.com
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Editor - 08:31:00 12-09-05
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 Corruption on increase worldwide, survey shows |
Corruption is on the increase in most countries and poor people are often the hardest hit, according to a global survey released on Friday. The poll, published on United Nations Anti-Corruption Day, found a majority of people in 48 out of 69 countries surveyed thought the problem had got worse over the past three years. "Today's survey shows that people believe corruption is deeply embedded in their countries," said Huguette Labelle, chairwoman of anti-graft group Transparency International, which commissioned the Global Corruption Barometer research. ...
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1389473
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Editor - 08:19:00 12-09-05
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| Defense Contractors Tried to Curry Favor |
Two defense contractors at the center of ex-Rep. Randy ``Duke'' Cunningham's bribery case also spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to curry favor with other influential lawmakers, records show. One contractor, Brent Wilkes, provided private jet flights to lawmakers, including Reps. Tom DeLay, R-Texas, and Roy Blunt, R-Mo., who is serving as majority leader while DeLay fights money-laundering charges in Texas. Wilkes also raised at least $100,000 for President Bush's 2004 re-election bid and donated more than $70,000 to California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who appointed him to two state boards. There's no indication that these donations were improper. Prosecutors have not suggested that the investigation that snared Cunningham, R-Calif. - who resigned last week after pleading guilty to taking $2.4 million in bribes - involves other lawmakers. Wilkes and defense contractor Mitchell Wade, along with their families and companies, donated generously to dozens of political campaigns ...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5468608,00.html
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Editor - 08:15:00 12-09-05
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| Human Rights Watch Sticks to CIA Claim |
Poland served as the CIA's main center to detain terrorist suspects in Europe at clandestine prisons, according to remarks by a Human Rights Watch investigator made public Friday. The claim came even as Poland's leaders continued to vigorously deny any involvement. Marc Garlasco, a senior military analyst with the rights organization, told Poland's Gazeta Wyborcza that Human Rights Watch had documents corroborating its case about Poland, and showing Romania was a transit point for moving prisoners. ``Poland was the main base of interrogating prisoners and Romania was more of a hub,'' Garlasco told the newspaper in an interview in Geneva, Switzerland. ``This is what our sources from the CIA tell us and what is shown from the documents we gathered.'' This week, Poland's outgoing President Aleksander Kwasniewski stressed that ``there are no such prisons or such prisoners on Polish territory.'' He went further on Nov. 28, saying ``there never have been'' such jails. ...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5468596,00.html
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Editor - 07:42:00 12-09-05
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| Climate talks go down to the wire |
The UN Climate Change Conference is entering its final day, with diplomats struggling to find a last-minute deal on moves to cut carbon emissions. Negotiators have finalised details of the Kyoto Protocol and are discussing a proposal for talks on long-term cuts. But the US has reportedly taken offence at criticism from Canada's prime minister, who said Washington must listen to its global conscience. UK Environment Secretary Margaret Beckett said a deal was still possible. Japanese Environment Minister Yuriko Koike meanwhile called on developing countries to join in the fight against global warming and commit themselves to cuts in greenhouse gases. Countries like India and China are exempt from the targets agreed in the Kyoto treaty, which is aimed at developed nations. ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4512696.stm
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Editor - 07:07:00 12-09-05
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| An Alleged Insurgent's Perspective Insurgency Calls Themselves the Resistance |
"I represent the political side of the Iraqi resistance," a man claiming to be a part of Iraq's insurgency told ABC News. The man, who spoke with quiet emotion, is one of many Iraqis US soldiers would consider an insurgent. He was quick to counter that he is one of countless Iraqis in the "resistance." "This is the tribal way of resisting because if my brother or cousin was killed & if I did not fight, it will be a big shame haunting me," he said. "So how can an occupier kill my relatives & I do nothing?" He did not give his name & said he was "elected" by several groups to meet ABC News at a house on Baghdad's west side to tell their story. Concerned about security, all cell phones were taken away before the interview began. The man said the insurgency, or resistance, has a simple set of demands. They want the US to pull out of Iraq; an end to military operations that target mainly Sunni areas; limits on Iran's influence in Iraq; & they want the respect of the Iraqi government...
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=1367071&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312
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Editor - 07:02:00 12-09-05
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