New investigation in Dresden court stabbing case

Two officials at the German court where a man fatally stabbed a pregnant Egyptian woman are facing a routine investigation for manslaughter after the victim's husband filed a complaint, a Dresden prosecutor said Saturday.

The investigation was opened several weeks ago against court president Gerd Halfar and judge Tom Maciejewski, who was in charge when Alexander Wiens stabbed Marwa al-Sherbini to death at a July 1 hearing, prosecutor Christian Avenarius said. The killing caused outrage in the Muslim world.

Wiens was convicted Wednesday and given the maximum sentence of …

OPINIONS FROM LEADERS IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC COMMUNITY

Tim UnsworthTim Unsworth is a columnist for the National Catholic Reporter andveteran observer of the local Roman Catholic scene. (The new archbishop) will have to be a man who can deal with thepolitics of cutback. He'll watch the Catholic population risedramatically, especially among Latinos, while watching the clericalpopulation diminish dramatically. He's going to have at least ahalf-million more Catholics, but only 400 active priests; he's goingto have to close more parishes. And yet he's going to have to besupremely pastoral. He's going to have to give a lot more leeway tothe people at the parish level. If he decides to tighten up andcentralize authority, he's going to be …

Anonymous donors spent $132M on 2010 campaign ads

NEW YORK (AP) — Independent groups that do not disclose the identity of their donors spent $132.5 million to influence elections nationwide this year, accounting for about a third of all spending by outside groups in the 2010 election cycle, a report released Friday found.

The analysis by the office of New York City Public Advocate Bill de Blasio aimed to quantify how federal campaigns had been affected by the Supreme Court's so-called Citizens United ruling. The ruling, handed down in January, cleared the way for companies and labor unions to spend unlimited funds to influence elections, often using money from anonymous donors.

Groups including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce …

Argentina legalizes gay marriage in historic vote

Argentina became the first Latin American nation to legalize gay marriage Thursday, granting same-sex couples all the legal rights, responsibilities and protections that marriage brings to heterosexuals.

The law's passage _ a priority for President Cristina Fernandez's government _ has inspired activists to push for similar laws in other countries, and a wave of gay weddings are expected in Buenos Aires. Some gay business leaders are predicting an economic ripple effect from an increase in tourism among gays and lesbians who will see Argentina as an even more attractive destination.

But it also carries political risks for Fernandez and her husband, former …

Rod Blagojevich headed for retrial without brother

Corruption charges have been dropped against the brother of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich _ but the governor himself wasn't so lucky.

Robert Blagojevich was waiting to hear when he'd again stand trial alongside his sibling, after a jury deadlocked last week on all four corruption charges against him and 23 of 24 charges against the former governor.

Instead, attorney Michael Ettinger called him Thursday, saying prosecutors were dropping corruption charges against Robert Blagojevich even as they prepared to retry his brother.

"Mike called within five minutes and said, 'Hey, you're out of it, it's over, you're free, it's done,'" Blagojevich, 55, said in an interview at his son's home on Chicago's North Side.

With that, federal prosecutors sharpened their focus on their main mission: convicting the impeached Illinois governor in a retrial beginning early next year.

In court, prosecutors said their decision to drop charges against Robert Blagojevich was based on his less central role in alleged schemes to sell or trade an appointment to President Barack Obama's old Senate seat and to pressure people for campaign donations.

Jurors who deadlocked last week on all but one of 24 charges in the first trial described the case against Robert Blagojevich as by far the weaker of the two. And they said the former Army officer presented an earnest, sympathetic figure when he insisted on the witness stand that he and his brother did nothing wrong.

Robert Blagojevich's attorneys said prosecutors first signaled their desire to simplify their strategy Wednesday, when they privately offered to separate his case from the former governor's. Still, he was surprised when the charges were dropped.

"When it comes to my brother I've become accustomed to being an afterthought," Robert Blagojevich said. "I was a very small part of the six-year investigation."

Legal analysts said it was a rare but strategic step by the government.

"It is a very smart move on the part of prosecutors," said Bill Healy, a Chicago-based jury consultant. "This should really worry Rod, because they can focus like a laser on him now."

Judge James Zagel said Rod Blagojevich's retrial will start the week of Jan. 4. He also said he probably won't allow the former governor more than two taxpayer-funded lawyers when the case begins anew _ though he might allow more if lawyers volunteered or were financed by a benefactor.

Rod Blagojevich's attorneys argued he needed the half-dozen attorneys he had during the first trial, and say they will meet with him before deciding on any defense team changes.

While the two brothers have had a strained relationship, Robert Blagojevich said he felt bad for his sibling.

"The government failed to prove their case against my brother," he added. "With the exception of one charge, he's now a convicted felon. ... He's been impeached, he's been shamed, he's been disgraced as a governor _ I don't know how much more you can do to a guy."

Robert Blagojevich worked as his brother's campaign manager for only four months in 2008. The Republican had been a successful banker living in Nashville, but said he went to work for his brother, the Democratic governor, out of family solidarity.

He was seldom heard on the FBI wiretaps central to the case. Testifying at the trial, he denied allegations he helped his brother scheme to benefit from his public office, and portrayed himself as left out of his brother's most intimate dealings.

"What happened to my brother should have never happened, and I can't begin to tell you how happy I am for my brother and for his family that this nightmare for them is finally over," Rod Blagojevich told reporters.

"I know that he and I did nothing wrong together," Robert Blagojevich said when asked if he believed his brother was innocent of the charges against him. He added that it will be up to a jury to determine.

The former governor's attorneys have raised the possibility of Robert testifying on behalf of his brother.

Ettinger said his client does not want to testify against his brother. While he would have to obey any subpoena, Ettinger said he could invoke the Fifth Amendment to avoid self-incrimination.

Robert Blagojevich said his immediate plans are to take a trip with his wife, possibly to the Northwest. And he said, "I want my passport back."

Workers find more radioactivity at Hanford site

YAKIMA, Wash. (AP) — Workers cleaning up the nation's most contaminated nuclear site have discovered an area of soil so radioactive it exceeds lethal limits tenfold, the U.S. Department of Energy announced Wednesday with its cleanup contractor.

The finding represents some of the worst contamination at south-central Washington's Hanford nuclear reservation and highlights the difficulty and danger in cleaning up a site where records about Cold War-era weapons production either weren't kept or were incomplete.

Even though it's highly radioactive, the contaminated soil does not pose an immediate risk to health or safety of workers or the environment, said Todd Nelson, spokesman for Washington Closure, the contractor hired to clean up this area of Hanford for the DOE.

The federal government created Hanford in the 1940s as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project to build the atomic bomb. The site produced plutonium for nuclear weapons through the Cold War, but the work left hundreds of radioactive buildings, including nuclear reactors, debris and waste.

Workers found this soil contamination under a building that was used from 1966 to 1996 to explore methods to treat radioactive waste. The workers discovered a cracked steel liner under a drain in a radioactive hot cell, where the research years ago could be conducted safely, then used remote equipment to conduct soil samples under the building to determine if there may have been a leak.

The samples showed radiation levels thousands of times greater than allowable levels for exposure over one hour, and 10 times the lethal limit.

Nelson said the three biggest concerns when such a high level of radioactivity is located are direct exposure to workers, the contamination becoming airborne, and the contamination migrating to groundwater. Because the soil sits under a building and workers are shielded from the radiation, he said, the first two are not an immediate risk.

There also is no evidence the contamination has affected groundwater, said Mark French, project coordinator for the DOE's Columbia River corridor cleanup.

The building in question sits about a quarter-mile from the Columbia River, which is the largest waterway in the Pacific Northwest and creates the northern and eastern boundaries of the Hanford site.

French said the level of contamination was a surprise, though it had obviously been there some period of time.

"This is part of the business," he said. "We don't have good historical records in many cases, and even when we do, there's always things that happened that weren't documented. Things come up that we don't expect."

A 1993 report detailed a large spill of radioactive cesium and strontium in the cell in question, Nelson said, and it's possible the contamination is a result of that spill.

French said workers would redouble groundwater sampling efforts in the area and continue to work to characterize the extent of the contamination as they develop a new plan for cleaning up the area and demolishing the building.

The building, in Hanford's 300 Area where research was conducted, is considered one of the area's most difficult to decontaminate and demolish. Under a cleanup compact between the state and federal governments, the building is to be demolished by the end of 2012.

CBS reports 1 percent growth in earnings for 2Q

Media company CBS says earnings rose in the second quarter, beating analysts' estimates, on gains from asset sales amid a weak advertising market.

New York-based CBS Corp. says profits rose 1 percent to $408.4 million, or 61 cents per share, for the three months ended June 30, compared with $404 million, or 55 cents per share, in the same period last year.

Revenue is up 1 percent to $3.39 billion from $3.37 billion.

Thomson Financial says analysts expected earnings of 52 cents per share on revenue of $3.41 billion.

The company's earnings gained on the sale of its investment in the Sundance Channel.