Missing N.C. Scout found safe after 4 days
MCGRADY, N.C., March 20 (UPI) -- A 12-year-old North Carolina Boy Scout who went missing on a camping trip on Saturday was found alive but weak Tuesday.
Michael Auberry was seen in aerial video footage being carried beneath a large white sheet into a police SUV in Doughton park where his troop had been camping, CNN reported.
National Park Service Ranger Tina White said the boy was "weak but in good condition" after spending three nights in the wilderness in freezing temperatures. She said he would require treatment for dehydration and would then be reunited with his family.
About 25 search-and-rescue groups and dog teams were looking for the boy Tuesday. Since he disappeared Saturday, helicopters scoured the forest, and divers searched waters at a nearby dam.
He was found about a mile and a half from the site where he was last seen, although immediate details of his survival were not available.
Fresh U.S. prisoner abuse claims made
NEW YORK, March 20 (UPI) -- An Australian man captured while training with al-Qaida in Afghanistan claims he was beaten and abused by his U.S. military captors.
David Hicks made the claims in documents supporting his bid for British citizenship, the New York Times reported Tuesday. He was captured in Afghanistan in late 2001, and has become the first detainee to be formally charged under secret U.S. military tribunals at the Guantanamo Bay military prison in Cuba.
His case is scheduled to be heard March 26, and his lawyer, Maj. Michael Mori said he will plead innocent to a single charge of providing material support for terrorism.
Hicks wrote that he was repeatedly beaten and witnessed other detainees also being beaten before he was transferred to Guantanamo.
He said during the time he was shuttled from ships and helicopters to aircraft hangars, prisoners were also made to kneel for 10 hours at a time, the Times said.
He made no claims of abuse at Guantanamo, but said he was repeatedly injected with liquids that "would make my head feel strange."
FBI has new phone records rules
WASHINGTON, March 20 (UPI) -- The FBI has issued new rules for its agents to obtain telephone records pertaining to investigations of U.S. residents.
The bureau has told agents they can ask phone companies to surrender records voluntarily, the Washington Post reported.
The FBI this month sent its field agents an "emergency letter" template to be sent to phone companies when they need records, the Post reported.
The new rules came before the release of a Justice Department report detailing the bureau's abuses of previous phone record collection policies. It said agents didn't always follow guidelines and treated non-emergencies as if they were emergencies.
Under the new procedures, agents can ask for phone records verbally in emergency situations, the newspaper reported.
"Emergencies will still come up. If we have a child kidnapping or a 'ticking bomb' terrorist threat, we will ask the telecommunications carriers to provide records under the authority provided by law," FBI Assistant Director John Miller told the Post.
The new rules include "an audit trail to ensure we are doing it the right way," Miller told the Post.
Iran denies nuclear tension with Russia
TEHRAN, March 20 (UPI) -- A senior Iranian government official denied a New York Times report Tuesday claiming Russia was threatening to withhold nuclear fuel from Iran.
Ali Husseini Tash, undersecretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, told reporters in Tehran he had not been given the ultimatum in Moscow last week as the newspaper reported.
Iranian officials did meet in Moscow with the secretary of Russia's national security council, Igor Ivanov, but Husseini Tash said the talks did not involve Iran's uranium enrichment.
The Times report said Moscow demanded Iran stop enrichment in line with pending U.N. sanctions or it would withhold fuel for the plant at Bushehr that Russia is helping Iran build, the FARS news agency reported.
Sources who requested anonymity also told the Times Iran was two months behind in $25 million payments to Moscow and that Tehran merely insisted on paying in euros instead of dollars.
Britain targets school veils, gang tags
LONDON, March 20 (UPI) -- British school principals are being given the option to ban Muslim students from wearing full-face veils as well as any student wearing gang insignia.
Education Secretary Alan Johnson made the announcement, saying principals, or head teachers also have the right to disallow Muslim girls from wearing the veil called a niqab, The Times of London reported.
Monday night before the announcement was made, a spokesman for Department for Education and Skills urged head teachers to consult with parents, and teachers before making any decision, particularly with regard to veils and robes, the report said.
Two schools in England have been challenged on clothing bans. In both cases, judges ruled the schools had the right to enforce dress codes.
The Muslim Council of Britain also has issued a statement saying the policy of allowing a simpler headscarf is "quite sufficient to meet Islamic requirements," The Times said.
