■ United States
Teen-marrier charged
A 37-year-old woman was charged with child molestation after being accused of having a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old boy whom she married last week. The woman also is allegedly pregnant with the boy's child, his grandmother and guardian told reporters on Monday. "You hear about stuff like this from the TV, but it's not reality," Judy Ann Hayles said. "But [this] happened. And this won't be over because a baby is on the way." Lisa Lynnette Clark was arrested Wednesday and remained in custody Monday. A preliminary hearing is set for Nov. 30. Hayles filed a police report on Oct. 6 when she learned from a friend that Clark was pregnant.
■ United states
Death driver not indicted
A grand jury declined to indict a bus driver in connection with the deaths of 23 passengers killed in a vehicle fire as they fled Hurricane Rita in September. The bus caught fire on Sept. 23 from a malfunctioning back wheel. After the fire started, oxygen tanks used by the patients on the bus began exploding. The sheriff's department had said Juan Robles Gutierrez, 37, a Mexican immigrant, did not inspect the bus on the 16-hour trip from Houston as Rita approached, and didn't help people when the fire broke out. But Robles' attorney, George Shaffer told Tuesday's editions of the Houston Chronicle that his client "did everything within his power to minimize the damage and loss of life."
■ United states
New NY bag tests begin
Police have introduced a new anti-terrorism tool to thwart potential subway bombers while reducing the intrusiveness of random bag searches: explosives detectors. The portable detection devices, tested at two subway stops on Monday, are designed to chemically analyze swabs taken from the outside of bags for traces of explosives, police said. Commuters in New York have experienced random bag searches since the July terrorist attacks in London.
■ United States
Kyrgyzstan deals probed
During the US-led war in Afghanistan in 2001, Washington made deals for jet fuel supplies to a US air base in Kyrgyzstan with two companies linked to relatives of the then-Kyrgyz president, the New York Times said yesterday. The deals, which may have benefited Askar Akayef and his family by hundreds of millions of dollars, are under investigation by Kyrgyz prosecutors and the FBI, the daily said. The Kyrgyz government insists the US knew the two companies they were dealing with had ties with the Akayev family. An FBI report given to Kyrgyz prosecutors, a copy of which was also handed to the New York Times, said the two companies may have been involved in money laundering through New York accounts.
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