World / Nation briefs January 19, 2012
Perry attacks Romney over abortion flip-flop
GREENVILLE, S.C. - Texas Gov. Rick Perry said Wednesday that Mitt Romney changed his position on legalized abortion out of political convenience, one of the sharpest allegations leveled yet in the South Carolina GOP presidential primary.
Romney, who had supported legalized abortion while Massachusetts governor, says he changed his mind after weighing legislation that "would have created new embryos for the purpose of destroying them."
Perry, who is struggling to keep his presidential hopes alive, has criticized Romney before, but not always so pointedly. He told an anti-abortion forum in Greenville, S.C., that it's hard to understand how a public official could change his views on something as fundamental as abortion in his 50s, after decades to think about it.
"This is a decision that Gov. Romney made for political convenience, not an issue of his heart," Perry said.
Perry has shifted his own views on abortion somewhat. He recently said he no longer supports legal abortions in cases of rape and incest.
al-Qaida mag gets to imprisoned terror suspect
FORT MEADE, Md. - A copy of a magazine published by an arm of al-Qaida made its way to a terror suspect at the Guantanamo Bay prison, leading to an inspection of cells and a contentious new policy requiring special review teams to examine correspondence between prisoners and attorneys, U.S. prosecutors said Wednesday.
Navy Cmdr. Andrea Lockhart told a military judge during a pre-trial hearing that a copy of Inspire magazine got into a cell. She provided no details on who received the magazine or how. But she said the breach showed that prior rules at the base governing mail review were not adequate. Yemen's al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula launched the online, English-language magazine in 2010. An early issue contained tips to would-be militants about how to kill U.S. citizens.
Lockhart is part of the U.S. team prosecuting the case against Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, a Saudi national charged with orchestrating the attack in 2000 on the USS Cole that killed 17 sailors. Al-Nashiri, 47, is considered one of the most senior al-Qaida leaders. He has been held at the U.S. Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, since 2006 after spending several years held by the CIA in a series of secret prisons.
Panetta: We're prepared for Iran closing strait
WASHINGTON - The U.S. military is now "fully prepared" to deal with any Iranian effort to close the Strait of Hormuz, a vital Persian Gulf avenue for international oil shipments, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Wednesday.
At a Pentagon news conference, Panetta was asked whether, in light of Iran's threat to close the strait in retaliation for stronger international economic sanctions, Washington is adjusting U.S. forces in the region.
"We are not making any special steps at this point in order to deal with the situation," Panetta replied. "Why? Because, frankly, we are fully prepared to deal with that situation now." He noted that routine planning continues as the U.S. and its allies consider a range of potential Iran-related problems.
The Navy this month added a second aircraft carrier strike group in the Middle East, portraying it as part of a normal rotation and not a deliberate buildup of force. The carriers are the USS Carl Vinson and the USS Abraham Lincoln, under the control of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command in Bahrain.
The U.S. has kept a continuous naval presence in the Gulf region for decades, but international concerns about a potential confrontation have grown amid tensions over the advancement of Iran's nuclear program.
Human body parts found in Los Angeles park
LOS ANGELES - Police looked for more human body parts Wednesday after searchers discovered two hands and two feet in the same area of a park where dog walkers found a severed human head inside a plastic bag.
The first hand was found as dozens of officers and homicide investigators combed the brush along a winding trail in the Hollywood Hills. A coroner's cadaver dog came upon it about 50 yards from where the head was discovered on Tuesday afternoon.
The second hand and both feet were found nearby later Wednesday afternoon. No details were immediately available on the condition of the body parts.
The remains were believed to belong to the same man, but police were working to confirm that through testing.
The man may have been killed elsewhere in recent days and his body dumped in the park, police Cmdr. Andrew Smith said. Wild animals in the park may have other body parts, he said.
Authorities said the head came from a man in his 40s, 50s or 60s.
"One of the dogs ran into the brush and came out carrying a plastic grocery bag," Smith said of Tuesday's discovery. "As the dogs shook the plastic grocery bag the severed human head fell out of the bag and onto the ground."
The man hasn't been identified. Police were looking at reports of missing persons, and coroner's investigators were to check dental records.
- The Associated Press