Cuba
Hidden mike revealed in Gitmo room
A senior official for the Guantanamo Bay prison said under questioning Tuesday that the government had placed a hidden microphone inside a meeting room but that he was assured it was not used to monitor the private conversations that prisoners charged in the Sept. 11 attacks have with their lawyers and the Red Cross.
Navy Capt. Thomas Welsh, the senior legal adviser to the commander of the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba, conceded the microphone appeared to be intended to resemble a smoke detector in the ceiling of a meeting room.
The admission came during a pretrial hearing. Lawyers for the five men charged with planning and aiding the Sept. 11 attacks have asked the judge presiding over the military tribunal to immediately halt the proceedings in the long-stalled case over fears that authorities have been monitoring their private conversations in violation of attorney-client privilege.
Russia
Lawmakers vote to ban smoking in public
Russia's lower house of parliament overwhelmingly passed a bill Tuesday that would ban smoking in public places, a contentious measure in a country with one of the highest smoking rates in the world.
The ban has the backing of government leaders, who point to the hundreds of thousands of Russians who die of smoking-related illnesses every year.
The bill was passed by a vote of 441-1. It must be approved by the upper house and signed by President Vladimir Putin before becoming law.
Wilmington, Del.
Courthouse gunman killed two and himself
Police say a 68-year-old man who opened fire in a Delaware courthouse lobby, killing his former daughter-in-law and another woman, fatally shot himself after exchanging gunfire with officers.
State police spokesman Sgt. Paul Shavack said Tuesday that Thomas Matusiewicz of Edcouch, Texas, shot himself in the head after killing 39-year-old Christine Belford and her 47-year-old friend Laura Mulford on Monday. Two police also were hit by gunfire but were protected by their armored vests.
Authorities said Belford and Mulford were at the courthouse for a child support hearing for Belford's ex-husband, David Matusiewicz, following a bitter custody dispute.
David Matusiewicz was being detained by federal authorities Tuesday on charges that he violated probation after pleading guilty in 2009 to fraud and kidnapping charges for taking his children to Central America.
Elsewhere
Egypt: Hundreds of police officers shut down the headquarters of the Interior Ministry in at least seven provincial capitals Tuesday in a series of protests against what they called political exploitation by the government of President Mohammed Morsi.
Mali: Soldiers from Niger and Mali patrolled the northern town of Gao on Tuesday to prevent radical Islamic fighters from returning.
Times wires
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