In the News

Key al-Qaida associate killed in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan-One of al-Qaida’s top five leaders, said to be responsible for planning overseas strikes, was killed with U.S. help by Pakistani security forces in a rocket attack near the Afghan border, American and Pakistani officials said Saturday.

Hamza Rabia, a key associate of al-Qaida No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri, died Thursday in an explosion in the North Waziristan tribal area. His remains were identified in DNA tests, Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said.

Two U.S. counterterrorism officials, who spoke only on condition of anonymity because of the information’s sensitivity, confirmed Rabia’s death but would not elaborate on the circumstances.

The officials said Rabia was believed to be an Egyptian and head of al-Qaida’s foreign operations, possibly as senior as the No. 3 official in the terrorist group. That would put him in a tier just below Osama bin Laden and al-Zawahri.

Insurgent attack kills 19 Iraqi soldiers

BAGHDAD, Iraq-Insurgents killed 19 Iraqi soldiers and wounded four in a coordinated ambush northeast of Baghdad just two days after the deadliest attack against U.S. Marines in four months.

On Sunday, Iraqi police commander Lt. Col. Abdul-Razaak Abdul-Jabbar was killed in western Baghdad by gunmen using two cars who opened fire on him as he was heading to work, police Capt. Talib Thamir said.

The bloodshed Saturday confirmed U.S. and Iraqi warnings of a surge in insurgent attacks ahead of national elections set for Dec. 15. A total of 14 U.S. service members have died this month, 10 of them in a bombing Thursday near Fallujah.

Saturday’s attack occurred as an Iraqi army unit patrolled near Adhaim, about 60 miles north of Baghdad. Survivors said insurgents triggered a roadside bomb and then showered the patrol with rocket-propelled grenades and machine-gun fire.

President Bush said earlier this week that the eventual replacement of U.S. troops by Iraqi forces was key to his strategy for victory.

Autopsies confirm bodies in Ohio as slain New Hampshire siblings

HUDSON, Ohio-After he shot and killed his two children, Manuel Gehring dug a grave about 2-foot deep in the clay-like soil of northeast Ohio and made two crosses out of sticks, held together by duct tape, which he laid over their bodies.

The New Hampshire man later told investigators that he said a prayer for the children’s souls.

The gesture was an effort to ease his conscience, said Senior Assistant Attorney General Jeffery Strelzin of New Hampshire.

The bodies of Sarah Gehring, 14, and her brother, 11-year-old Philip Gehring, were identified Saturday-two days after the corpses were found buried off Interstate 80 and 2 1/2 years after the children were slain.

Summit County Medical Examiner Dr. Lisa Kohler said the children died of multiple gunshot wounds.

“It’s been an emotional case from the start,” Strelzin said. “It’s hard to not to be angry at a father who takes the lives of two children.”

Gay couples face continued legal battles

In more than one sense, Brian Rice and Jason Kelliher are pioneers. They were among the first same-sex partners in the nation to marry legally last year in barrier-breaking Massachusetts-and now are among the few such couples to forgo their much-prized rights by moving to another state.

Their new home, Connecticut, is among the most liberal on the issue. Its legislature has approved civil unions that extend marriage-like rights to gay couples. But that option doesn’t tempt Rice and Kelliher.

“We’ve already reached the pinnacle of what a couple can hope for-

a marriage license,” said Rice, a lawyer. “Civil union is a second-class citizenship. … We don’t want to take a step backward.”

Yet Rice and Kelliher know that if they venture to any other state-except back to Massachusetts-their status wouldn’t improve. While a few states have recognized same-sex couples, many more are strengthening bans on gay marriage. Conservatives in some places-including Michigan and Ohio-are now taking aim at existing domestic-partner benefit policies.

“There are lots of families in states where it’s harder to be a strong family, where the state does everything it can to weaken you,” said David Buckel, an attorney overseeing marriage issues for the gay rights group Lambda Legal. “It’s challenging. It’s discouraging. At some points it’s enraging.”