■ United States
Soldier guilty in rape case
A soldier has pleaded guilty to being an accessory to the rape and murder of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and the slaying of her family. Private First Class Bryan Howard, 19, on Wednesday also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to obstruct justice by lying to his superior officers about the attack last year in Mahmoudiya, 30km south of Baghdad. It was one of the most shocking atrocities committed by US troops in the Iraq war. Howard agreed to five years in prison under a plea deal but will not serve more than 27 months if he follows conditions of the agreement, military judge Colonel Stephen Henley said. In a statement to the court, Howard apologized to the military, his family and the victims.
■ United States
Judge protects porn
A federal judge yesterday threw out a 1998 law that makes it a crime for commercial Web site operators to let children access "harmful" material. In the ruling, the judge said parents can protect their children through software filters and other less restrictive means that do not limit the rights of adults to free speech. "Perhaps we do the minors of this country harm if [free speech] protections, which they will with age inherit fully, are chipped away in the name of their protection," wrote Senior US District Judge Lowell Reed Jr. The law would have criminalized Web sites that allow children to access material deemed "harmful."
■ United States
Sex monster convicted
A man was convicted of several hundred sex-crime counts for abusing a girl for a decade. A jury in Brookfield, Pennsylvania, found Clarence Thomas, 56, guilty Tuesday of 971 counts. Those included more than 100 charges each of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, statutory sexual assault and corruption of minors; more than 200 counts of aggravated indecent assault; and nearly 400 counts of indecent assault. Prosecutors accused Thomas of sexually assaulting his victim, now 20, from 1994 to 2004. Thomas testified he weighed 195kg to 240kg at the time. He also said spinal injuries would have made it impossible for him to commit the crimes.
■ United States
US reduces Palestinian aid
The Bush administration will reduce by nearly half a proposed US$86 million security assistance package to the Palestinian government to see that none of the money ends up with forces loyal to Hamas. As she prepares to visit the Middle East later this week, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on she would soon send Congress a revised package that will fund only security elements loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. A senior US official said the cut would amount to about US$36 million.
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