North Korea sentences U.S. tourist to 15 years
PYONGYANG, North Korea – North Korea’s highest court sentenced an American tourist to 15 years in prison with hard labor for subversion on Wednesday, weeks after authorities presented him to media and he tearfully confessed that he had tried to steal a propaganda banner.
Otto Warmbier, 21, a University of Virginia undergraduate, was convicted and sentenced in a one-hour trial in North Korea’s Supreme Court.
U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the sentence was “unduly harsh” and urged North Korea to pardon Warmbier and release him on humanitarian grounds.
A message seeking comment from Warmbier’s family was left at a Wyoming, Ohio, telephone listing for his father, Fred Warmbier. Susanna Max, a spokeswoman for Wyoming City Schools, said last month that the district, where Otto Warmbier attended school, had been in touch with the family. She said Wednesday that the district continues “to respect their privacy” and declines to comment.
Before the trial, Warmbier had said he tried to steal a propaganda banner as a trophy for an acquaintance who wanted to hang it in her church. That would be grounds in North Korea for a subversion charge. He identified the church as Friendship United Methodist Church. Meshach Kanyion, pastor of the church in Wyoming, declined to comment Wednesday.
Fed keeps key rates unchanged
WASHINGTON – The Federal Reserve is keeping a key interest rate unchanged in light of global pressures that risk slowing the U.S. economy.
As a result, Fed officials expect to raise rates more gradually this year than they had envisioned in December. The officials now foresee two, rather than four, modest increases in their benchmark short-term rate during 2016.
The Fed said Wednesday that the economy has continued to grow moderately, but that the global economy and financial markets still pose risks. Offsetting the threats, the Fed said in a statement after a policy meeting that it foresees further strengthening in the job market.
Court: Inmate who survived ’09 execution can be put to death
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The state can try again to put to death a condemned killer whose 2009 execution was called off after two hours during which he cried in pain while receiving 18 needle sticks, the Ohio Supreme Court said Wednesday.
The court’s 4-3 ruling rejected arguments that giving the state prisons agency a second chance to execute Romell Broom would amount to cruel and unusual punishment and double jeopardy.
Prosecutors had argued double jeopardy doesn’t apply because lethal drugs never entered Broom’s veins while executioners unsuccessfully tried to hook up an IV. They also said a previously unsuccessful execution attempt doesn’t affect the constitutionality of his death sentence. Broom’s attorneys called the ruling disappointing and said they were exploring “additional legal remedies.”
Broom was sentenced to die for raping and killing 14-year-old Tryna Middleton after abducting her in Cleveland in 1984 as she walked home from a football game with two friends.
More than 12 punished for mistaken Afghan hospital attack
WASHINGTON – More than a dozen U.S. military personnel have been disciplined – but face no criminal charges – for mistakes that led to the bombing of a Doctors Without Borders hospital that killed 42 people in Afghanistan last year, U.S. defense officials say.
The punishments, which have not been publicly announced, are largely administrative. But in some cases the actions, such as letters of reprimand, are tough enough to effectively end chances for further promotion. The military has previously said some personnel were suspended from their duties but has given no further details.
The disciplined include both officers and enlisted personnel, but officials said none are generals.
The hospital, run by the medical charity Doctors Without Borders in the northern city of Kunduz, was attacked by a U.S. Air Force special operations AC-130 gunship, one of the most lethal in the U.S. arsenal. Doctors Without Borders called the attack “relentless and brutal” and demanded an international investigation, but none has been undertaken.
Associated Press
