combined briefs

MIDDLETOWN AND AUSTIN: DO NOT USE HACKER BRIEF

RUSSIA

American, Russian, Italian blast off into space

A Soyuz carrying an American, Russian and Italian blasted off today for a six-hour trip to the International Space Station, where the new crew will spend six months conducting a variety of experiments. The Russian spacecraft lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, which Russia leases in Kazakhstan. The cramped capsule carrying NASA’s Karen Nyberg, Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin and Italy’s Luca Parmitano will orbit the Earth four times before docking with the space station less than six hours after liftoff.

NEW JERSEY

Boston bombing suspects’ sister faces drug charge

A sister of the two Boston Marathon bombing suspects is facing a drug charge in New Jersey. Bella Tsarnaeva pleaded not guilty Tuesday to possession of marijuana with intent to distribute. Her boyfriend, Ahmad Khalil, faces the same charge and also pleaded not guilty. Attorney Mario Blanch says Tsarnaeva had no involvement with the Boston events but has received death threats and verbal abuse.

UTAH

Healthy quintuplets born in Salt Lake

A team about 40 medical personnel led by eight doctors helped ensure a Utah couple’s quintuplets were born healthy. Guillermina and Fernando Garcia welcomed their five babies — three girls and two boys — over the weekend at the University of Utah hospital in Salt Lake City. The mother carried the babies until 31 ½ weeks — about three weeks longer than most quintuplet mothers. Only a handful of quintuplet sets are born each year in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention counted 37 babies who were born as part of a set of five or more in 2010.

NEW YORK

Ex-Guatemala president pleads not guilty

A former president of Guatemala accused of laundering tens of millions of dollars stolen from his country through U.S. bank accounts pleaded not guilty in New York City on Tuesday, and his lawyer called the case “a clear case of over-reaching by the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. government.” Former President Alfonso Portillo, 61, was extradited to the United States last week and remains in custody. He faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Prisoner’s lawsuit against U.S. dismissed

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought by an American imprisoned in Cuba against the U.S. government, for whom he was working when he was arrested. Judge James Boasberg wrote Tuesday in an opinion dismissing the case that federal law bars lawsuits against the government based on injuries suffered in foreign countries. The lawsuit was filed last year by Alan Gross. He was working for the U.S. Agency for International Development and its contractor Development Alternatives Inc. when he was arrested in 2009.

NEW YORK

Hacker activist pleads guilty in to attacks

A self-described anarchist and hacker activist in the U.S. pleaded guilty Tuesday to charges he illegally accessed computer systems of law enforcement agencies and government contractors. Prosecutors had alleged that Jeremy Hammond took part in cyber-attacks carried out by Anonymous, the loosely organized worldwide hacking group that stole confidential information, defaced websites and temporarily put some victims out of business. Hammond was caught last year with the help of Hector Xavier Monsegur, a famous hacker known as Sabu who later helped law enforcement infiltrate Anonymous.

WASHINGTON, D.C.

U.S. urges Myanmar to eliminate two-child policy

The United States is calling on the government of Myanmar to stop the imposition of a two-child limit on a Muslim minority group that has been targeted in bloody communal unrest. State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said Tuesday the U.S. is deeply concerned about reports that authorities in two townships of western Rakhine State plan to enforce the limit on minority Rohingyas. Ventrell says the U.S. opposes coercive birth limitation policies, and urges Myanmar, in his words, “to eliminate all such policies without delay.”

FRANCE

Man dies of SARS-related respiratory virus

A French patient infected with a deadly new respiratory virus related to SARS died Tuesday of the disease, which has killed half the people known to be infected and alarmed global health officials. The novel coronavirus is related to SARS, which killed some 800 people in a global epidemic in 2003. The ministry said the hospital room of the Frenchman, whose illness was identified May 8 after he returned from a visit to the United Arab Emirates, also tested positive for the illness. Meanwhile, the Saudi Health Ministry reported five new cases of the virus. All the patients were in their 70s or older.

ITALY

Lawmakers try to reduce violence against women