Juror: Libby administration's 'fall guy'
WASHINGTON, March 7 (UPI) -- A member of the Washington jury that convicted I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby said members of the panel believe Libby was set up as the administration's "fall guy."
Denis Collins, a juror in the case and a former Washington Post reporter, said it appeared that Libby was being "pilloried" for a leak of CIA information that was also perpetrated by other top White House officials, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.
However, Collins said the jury believes Libby was indeed guilty of making false statements to FBI agents and a federal grand jury during the investigation of the leak.
"We're not saying that we didn't think Mr. Libby was guilty of the things we found him guilty of," Collins said. "But it seemed like he was ... the fall guy."
Collins said he and his fellow jurors often expressed the opinion that Karl Rove, Bush's top political adviser, and Richard Armitage, a former deputy secretary of state, who was the first to perpetrate the leak, should also face prosecution.
Obama campaign defends 2005 investments
NEW YORK, March 7 (UPI) -- A spokesman for U.S. Sen. Barack Obama is defending investments Obama made in 2005, saying the Illinois Democrat was unaware of any conflict of interest.
The New York Times said recent financial disclosures show Obama, then newly elected to the Senate, bought stock in AVI BioPharma, a biotech concern working on a drug to treat avian flu.
Shortly after the purchase, Obama initiated a push to increase federal financing to fight avian flu.
The newspaper said Obama also bought more than $50,000 in stock in a satellite communications business, Skyterra Communications, whose principal backers include four of his friends and major political donors.
Spokesman Bill Burton said Obama's broker bought the stocks without consulting the senator. After discovering the purchase, Obama sold both stocks at a net loss of $13,000.
Burton said a blind trust that was being set up for the senator was not finalized until several months after the investments were made.
Child killer found guilty in Florida
MIAMI, March 7 (UPI) -- A Miami jury Wednesday found John Couey guilty of killing Jessica Lunsford, as well as kidnapping and sexually assaulting the 9-year-old.
Couey, a previously convicted child molester, showed no emotion as the verdict was read, but the girl's father, Mark, wiped away tears, The Miami Herald reported.
The jury will next decide whether a judge may sentence Couey to death.
The crime was unusually cruel.
After Jessica was taken from her Homosassa, Fla., home in February 2005, hundreds of volunteers searched for her for weeks. Her body was found buried in two garbage bags next to Couey's home.
The Herald said Couey told a jailer he couldn't kill the little girl with his bare hands, so her buried her alive with a favorite toy.
Detectives found the girl's DNA in blood on Couey's mattress and his DNA in semen mixed in the stain.
The case inspired tougher sex offender laws across the country, and the trial was moved to Miami in part because of the publicity.
Spain and Morocco to link by tunnel
MADRID, March 7 (UPI) -- Spain and Morocco are planning a joint effort to link their countries by undersea train tunnel, Spanish news agency EFE reported Wednesday.
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said he was committed to the project, though he asked for some financial assistance from the European Union.
Meanwhile Moroccan Premier Driss Jettou called the tunnel initiative "an important milestone" in relations between the two countries.
