World: BRIEFLY: Closed court weighs fate of journalist

American journalist Roxana Saberi is awaiting a verdict after an unusually swift one-day espionage trial behind closed doors in Iran, a judiciary spokesman said Tuesday. The 31-year-old dual American-Iranian citizen was arrested in late January and initially accused of working without press credentials. But an Iranian judge leveled the far more serious allegation against her last week, charging her with spying for the United States. Washington says the charges against Saberi are baseless and has demanded her immediate release. Under Iranian law, those convicted of spying normally face up to 10 years in prison.

Warrants issued for protest leaders

Leaders of demonstrations that plunged Thailand’s capital into chaos called off their protests Tuesday after the rioting killed two people and injured more than 120. Police issued warrants for 14, including the ousted prime minister at the heart of three years of turmoil, Thaksin Shinawatra, who is in exile. Four of the protest leaders surrendered.

Drones to help rein in militants

The U.S. said Tuesday it will provide Lebanon with 12 unmanned military aircraft in coming months. Washington hopes a strengthened Lebanese military will extend state authority across the country, where Hezbollah militants are gaining power with an arsenal of rockets that threaten neighboring Israel. Meanwhile, a security official said a retired Lebanese general had been detained on suspicion of spying on Hezbollah for the Israeli military. The general was not identified and Israeli officials refused to comment on the allegations.

Peace deal may let killers go free

Pakistan’s imposition of Islamic law in a large portion of Northwest Frontier Province in a cease-fire deal to blunt a gathering Taliban rebellion will protect militants accused of brutal killings from prosecution, a hardline cleric who mediated the deal said Tuesday. Sufi Muhammad, asked Tuesday if the new Islamic courts would hear complaints from Swat Valley residents about the militants, said they would not. “We intend to bury the past,” he told ARY TV. “Past things will be left behind and we will go for a new life in peace.” The assertion highlights the dilemma Pakistan’s beleaguered government faces as it seeks to halt 18 months of bloodletting in Swat while convincing the U.S. and other foreign allies that it is not capitulating to terrorists.

3 held for offering dirty bomb matter

Ukrainian security agents have arrested a regional lawmaker and two companions for trying to sell a radioactive substance that could be used in making a dirty bomb, officials said Tuesday. The legislator in the western Ternopyl region and two local businessmen were detained last week for trying to sell the material to an undercover agent of the security service. Officials said the material was believed to have been produced in Russia during the Soviet era and smuggled into Ukraine through a neighboring country.