USA
After deliberating 10 hours, a jury of 13 fellow Methodist pastors ruled that the Rev. Karen Dammann can continue her ministry despite being a lesbian. Dammann, who disclosed she was in a homosexual relationship three years ago and has been on leave, did not testify in her three-day trial at a Bothell, Wash., United Methodist church. Church law prohibits the ordination of self-avowed practicing homosexuals, but the jury, which voted 11 in favor, two undecided, acknowledged that it was "far from unanimous regarding biblical and theological understandings."
After charges linking him to possible espionage were dropped late last week, US military chaplain Capt. James Yee faces only minor nonjudicial punishment Monday during a hearing at Fort Meade, Md. Yee, who is of Chinese descent, spent 76 days in custody at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, naval base, where he served. Monday's hearing addresses two side issues, allegations of adultery and pornography. After the hearing, Yee is expected to return to Fort Lewis near Tacoma, Wash.
Richard Clarke, a former top counterterrorism adviser to four administrations, told CBS's "60 Minutes" on a program to be aired Sunday night that President Bush "ignored terrorism for months, when maybe we could have done something to stop 9/11." In rebuttal, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice countered that the Bush administration had been in office just 230 days when the terrorist attacks occurred, and that it was following the Clinton administration policy until a more comprehensive policy, taking a minimum of three years, could be implemented to eliminate Al Qaeda.
Carbon dioxide, blamed for causing global warming, has reached record-high levels after rising at an accelerated pace over the past year, government scientists said. Climatologists said reasons for the increase need further evaluation, but growing industrialization in China and India is viewed as a possible contributing factor.
Antiwar protests, smaller than those held last year on the eve of the US-led invasion of Iraq, still drew thousands of demonstrators over the weekend in cities across the nation. The largest demonstration, held to mark the war's first anniversary, was in New York. Organizers said close to 100,000 people participated; police estimated 30,000.