Intelligencer Journal/Lancaster New Era

NATIONAL

Judge: No evidence CIA eavesdropped Ark. House OKs abortion limits

FORT MEADE, Md. -- A military judge at Guantanamo Bay refused Monday to suspend a pretrial hearing for the prisoner accused of orchestrating the attack on the USS Cole, ruling that defense lawyers had offered no evidence supporting their suspicion that the CIA can eavesdrop on their private conversations with their client.

Army Col. James Pohl said that unless the defense can offer evidence of eavesdropping, the hearing for Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri would continue.

"I can't stop a trial simply because something might happen," Pohl told defense attorney Navy Lt. Cmdr. Stephen Reyes during a heated exchange at the start of the scheduled four-day hearing.

The hearing was held at the U.S. naval base in Cuba. The Associated Press watched a video feed of the hearing at Fort Meade. Al-Nashiri, a Saudi national, is charged with orchestrating the 2000 attack on the USS Cole, which killed 17 sailors and wounded 37.

The eavesdropping issue sprang from an episode last week in another Guantanamo case in which an undisclosed government agency unilaterally silenced courtroom loudspeakers to prevent spectators from hearing classified information. Pohl, ordered the agency on Thursday to disconnect the equipment.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- The Arkansas House voted Monday to ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy with no exceptions for rape or incest.

Abortion restrictions are easily winning legislative support in Arkansas this year after Republicans won control of the House and Senate in November.

The House-approved measures now go to the Senate, which on Thursday voted to prohibit most abortions if a heartbeat is detected. Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe said he's still looking at the House-backed restrictions but that his office's research suggests the "heartbeat" bill is unconstitutional.