August 29, 2004 in Nation/World

Briefly: National/World news

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U.S. forces battle militants in Baghdad

Baghdad, Iraq Shiite militants and U.S. forces battled throughout the Baghdad slum of Sadr City, and a mortar barrage slammed into a busy neighborhood in the capital in a new wave of violence Saturday that killed at least five people and wounded dozens of others.

U.S. warplanes and tanks later bombarded targets in the Sunni stronghold of Fallujah, and U.S. forces exchanged gunfire with insurgents along the city’s eastern outskirts and the main highway running to neighboring Jordan, witnesses said. The fighting left at least 14 people injured, hospital officials said.

The new violence came as residents of Najaf began digging out of the rubble and debris left by three weeks of fierce fighting between militants and U.S. forces in the holy city. The crisis ended Friday when the militants withdrew under a peace deal brokered by Iraq’s most senior Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.

Two arrested in N.Y. subway bombing plot

New York A U.S. citizen and a Pakistani national were arrested in an alleged plot to bomb a subway station in midtown Manhattan and possibly other locations around the city, police said Saturday.

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said the men were not thought to be connected to al Qaeda or any other international terrorist organization, although he said they expressed hatred for America.

The arrests came two days before the start of the Republican National Convention, which is drawing tens of thousands of visitors to the city.

Though there was no clear tie to the convention, authorities moved to arrest the two men before it began.

The men had been under police surveillance and had discussed placing explosives at the Herald Square subway station and stations at 42nd and 59th streets, Kelly said. The men never obtained explosives, he said.

“It was clear that they had the intention to cause damage, to kill people,” Kelly said. “They did not immediately have the means to do it.”

He identified the men as Shahawar Matin Siraj, 21, a Pakistani living in Queens, and James El Shafay, 19, a U.S. citizen living on Staten Island.

Charges in spy case may be filed next week

Washington The FBI has spent more than a year covertly investigating, including the use of electronic surveillance, whether a Pentagon analyst funneled highly classified material to Israel, officials said Saturday. Prosecutors were still weighing whether to bring the most serious charge of espionage.

Charges could be brought in the case as early as next week, said two federal law enforcement officials speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing. The case has taken so long in part because of diplomatic sensitivities between the United States and its close ally Israel, they said.

Although the information involved – material describing Bush administration policy toward Iran – was described as highly classified, prosecutors could determine that the crime involved falls short of espionage and could result in lesser but still serious charges of mishandling classified documents, the officials said.

Black WW2 hero gets medals 60 years later

St. Louis A World War II veteran who earned five medals while serving as a foot soldier in Europe received the decorations Friday, nearly 60 years after his service.

Lonnell Ware, 83, was an Army private in one of the few black regiments that saw combat during the war. He participated in five campaigns over three years, including the 1944 invasion of Normandy and the Battle of the Bulge.

After his discharge, he returned to St. Louis, started a family and worked at a confectionary, as a firefighter and a mail sorter.

“I always figured they’d mail (the medals) to me, but they didn’t,” Ware said at a ceremony in his honor. “I figured they knew how to find me.”

Earlier this year, Ware and his daughter, Hattie Ware-Jones, were watching television shows marking the 60-year anniversary of D-Day when the subject of his service came up.

“She asked to see his medals, and asked: ‘You mean you never got them?’ “said her fiancé, Glenn Ray.

Ware-Jones said she initially wanted to surprise her father with the medals but later learned he would have to ask for them himself. With help from the staff of Democratic Rep. William Lacy Clay of St. Louis, Ware and his family were able to obtain the medals.

On Friday, in Clay’s office, U.S. Army personnel pinned five medals on the lapel of Ware’s dark suit. They honored him for good conduct, participation in the European campaign, his amphibious assault landing on Omaha Beach and honorable service. He also received a World War II victory medal and a certificate of appreciation.

Man sentenced after watching porn in car

Schenectady, N.Y A man who was watching a pornographic movie in his car as police pulled up behind him has been sentenced to three weekends in jail.

Andre Gainey, 35, was arrested in February after police said images from the movie could be seen from outside his Mercedes as he drove through the city 11 miles west of Albany.

Police, who pulled up behind Gainey at an intersection, said the movie was playing on screens set into the passenger-side sun visor and the car’s headrests.

Gainey, who was sentenced Friday, pleaded guilty in June to misdemeanor public display of sexual material.

Boy fatally shoots dad as he arrived for visit

Houston A 10-year-old boy fatally shot his physician father after the man arrived to pick him up for a weekend visit, authorities said.

Rick James Lohstroh, 41, was struck several times Friday as he sat in his sport utility vehicle, said Sgt. B.E. Williams of the Harris County Sheriff’s Department.

The boy, using his mother’s gun, fired through the back seat before getting out of the vehicle and continuing to shoot, Williams said. Lohstroh, a doctor at the University of Texas Medical Branch, died on the way to a hospital.

The shooting happened outside the home where the boy lived with his mother and 7-year-old brother, who were inside at the time, Williams said. Lohstroh and the boy’s mother shared custody of the children.

Harris County Sheriff’s Deputy Jeff Dixie would not discuss the boy’s whereabouts or charges.

Authorities said they had been called to the home before in an ongoing family dispute.

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