Va. sniper’s cohort testifies man wanted to train kids
Rockville, Md. – John Allen Muhammad had grand plans to extort millions of dollars from authorities in the 2002 Washington-area sniper shootings so he could set up a Canadian camp to train children how to terrorize cities and “shut things down,” accomplice Lee Boyd Malvo testified Tuesday.
Asked whether he believed Muhammad’s plans, Malvo said yes. “He’s a man of his word. If he tells you he is going to do something, it is done,” Malvo said. “If he says it, it is legit.”
Malvo, who had never before taken the witness stand against his fellow sniper, gave the most detailed account yet of the planning that went into the three-week shooting spree that left 10 people dead at gas stations and in parking lots.
Malvo also said Muhammad devised a two- phase plan to shoot as many as six random people each day for 30 days in the Washington area and then target children and police officers with explosives.
When Malvo asked Muhammad why, he said, “For the sheer terror of it – the worst thing you can do to people is aim at their children.”
Muhammad and Malvo have already have been convicted in Virginia for a sniper murder there. Muhammad was sentenced to death while Malvo was given a life term. Prosecutors in Maryland have said they are pursuing a second trial in case the Virginia conviction is overturned on appeal and to provide justice in Montgomery County, where six of the 10 killings occurred.
Good evening, America: Gibson to anchor news
New York – Forced to choose between its profitable morning show and flagship evening broadcast, ABC News moved to shore up “World News Tonight” on Tuesday by appointing veteran newsman Charles Gibson to helm the program, which has been buffeted by misfortune in the past year.
After extensive anticipation, ABC News president David Westin announced that Gibson will be leaving his post on “Good Morning America” to take over for co-anchors Elizabeth Vargas and Bob Woodruff – just five months after they began their short-lived tenure as successors to the late Peter Jennings.
The decision triggers another round of musical chairs as Gibson – who was passed over for the job last fall – will replace two anchors touted as the next generation of ABC News.
By tapping the 63-year-old broadcaster, known for his sure-handed and genial manner, network officials are seeking to restore stability to the broadcast after it was rocked by two back-to-back blows: Jennings’ death from lung cancer in August and Woodruff’s wounding during a trip to Iraq in January. Less than two weeks later, Vargas announced that she was pregnant with her second child, further unsettling plans for the newscast.
In an interview, Westin called Gibson “an extremely experienced, extremely able news broadcaster” who had “the authority and relationship with the audience that I think that will stand us in good stead.”
For his part, Gibson said he had one simple goal for his tenure: “Just to be steady.”
VILNIUS, Lithuania
Drunk driver really, really, really drunk
Lithuanian police were so astonished by a breath test that registered 18 times the legal alcohol limit for driving, they thought their device must be broken.
It wasn’t. Police said Tuesday 41-year-old Vidmantas Sungaila registered 7.27 grams per liter of alcohol in his blood repeatedly on different devices after he was pulled over Saturday for driving his truck down the center of a two-lane highway 60 miles from the capital, Vilnius.
Lithuania’s legal limit is 0.4 grams per liter.
“This guy should have been lying dead, but he was still driving. It must be an unofficial national record,” said Saulius Skvernelis, director of the national police traffic control service. Sungaila, who was slapped with a $1,110 fine and the loss of his license for up to three years, said he had been drinking the night before and tried to freshen up by downing a pint of beer for breakfast.
TEHRAN
Iran shuts newspaper for “divisive” cartoon
The Iranian government closed one of the country’s top three newspapers Tuesday, detaining its editor and cartoonist for publishing a caricature that caused members of Iran’s Azeri minority to riot in protest.
State television reported that the Press Supervisory Body had closed the state-owned newspaper Iran “due to its publication of divisive and provocative materials.” It was the first time a newspaper had been banned since President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took office last year.
On May 12, the Farsi-language newspaper published a cartoon showing a cockroach speaking Azeri, the language of an ethnic group in northwestern Iran.
The cartoon provoked riots Monday in Tabriz, the capital of Eastern Azerbaijan province. Police fired tear gas as rioters smashed windows of the local governor’s office.
COVINGTON, Ga.
Two women, 3 kids run over, hospitalized
A man ran over three toddlers and two adults with his car in the parking lot of a McDonald’s restaurant Tuesday, police said, and one witness described him as having a smile on his face.
Lanny Barnes, 46, was in custody, and charges against him were pending.
“All indications are that he intentionally hit them,” Assistant Police Chief Almond Turner said. The children – ages 2 to 4 – were in critical condition, Turner said. The two women were taken to a Covington hospital; one was in critical condition and the other was stable, he said.
Barnes’ mother, Mary, said her son has battled mental illness.
“He’s been suffering with depression for years,” she said, her voice shaking after being told by a reporter what happened. “Lord have mercy.”
HANOI, Vietnam
Bird-flu probe eyes human transmission
The U.N. health agency is looking closely at possible limited human-to-human transmission of bird flu between members of an Indonesian family but said there was no evidence indicating the virus had mutated or that it had spread beyond the relatives.
“We’re not surprised that there is possible human-to-human transmission,” said Steven Bjorge, a World Health Organization epidemiologist in Jakarta, Indonesia. “The thing we’re looking for is whether it’s sustained beyond the immediate cluster.”
Six of the seven people in the family from northern Sumatra who have caught the deadly disease have died, the most recent Monday. It is one of the largest human clusters ever reported.
