■ United States
David Crosby arrested
Musician David Crosby was arrested on marijuana and gun possession charges early Saturday at a Times Square hotel, hours after earning a standing ovation at a New Jersey concert, police said. Crosby, 62 was arrested at 1am at the DoubleTree Suites Hotel with 28 grams of marijuana, a .45-caliber handgun and a hunting knife in his possession, police said. The veteran rocker had checked out of the hotel, but left behind a piece of luggage. A hotel worker found the luggage, discovered the drugs and weapons and called authorities, police said. Crosby later called the hotel to say he would be returning to pick up the luggage, and was greeted by police when he came back, investigators said.
■ United States
New bird flu case found
A case of avian flu has been found at a commercial chicken farm on Maryland's Eastern Shore, the US agriculture department said. It is the same strain, H7, found last month in two flocks in Delaware, but officials said there was no known connection with the cases in the two states. The outbreak is at a Pokomoke City farm with about 118,000 6-week-old broiler chickens. Officials quarantined the farm on Friday evening. The birds were to be destroyed yesterday morning and their remains kept in the chicken houses where they are killed. Officials said 210,000 chickens on a nearby farm under the same ownership also would be destroyed because of "shared personnel and equipment." Also, the state agriculture department quarantined 71 farms in a 10km radius of the farm where the case was found.
■ Iraq
US preparing genocide trials
The United States is dispatching a large team of prosecutors and other criminal experts to Iraq to prepare for likely genocide trials of Saddam Hussein and his closest associates, a justice official said late Saturday. The move marks the first specific step by the administration of President George W. Bush toward a practical resolution of the fate of the ousted Iraq leader blamed for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of his own citizens as well as those of neighboring countries. "We are just literally there as advisers to the Iraqi special tribunals," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "We are joining the other nations of the coalition -- the Spanish, the British, the Australians, the Polish, and several others, who are also going to be contributing the same types of personnel." The first members of the US team, which includes about 50 prosecutors, investigators, legal and forensic experts, were scheduled to leave for Baghdad on the weekend.
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