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Military nabs 15 al-Qaida suspects in Iraq

BAGHDAD, Dec. 2 (UPI) -- Recent operations in Iraq have resulted in the arrest of 15 suspected al-Qaida members, U.S. military officials report Wednesday.

Four suspected members of an al-Qaida cell were apprehended in joint security operations carried out Tuesday by Iraqi police and U.S. advisers, the American Forces Press Service said.

In Karmah, west of Baghdad, police detained an associate of a car bomb cell believed responsible for recent attacks in the Iraqi capital along with a suspected accomplice.

A separate operation in a rural area south of Kirkuk netted an accomplice and a suspected al-Qaida leader police believe was responsible for placing improvised explosive devices throughout the region, transporting weapons and moving foreign fighters into Iraq.

Arrests earlier in the week brought the total of suspected al-Qaida members to 15, the report said.

Demjanjuk's fever postpones trial

MUNICH, Germany, Dec. 2 (UPI) -- The trial in Germany of retired U.S. autoworker and alleged Nazi guard John Demjanjuk was adjourned Wednesday after the 89-year-old defendant became ill.

Court officials in Munich said the retired Cleveland-area autoworker had a fever that would not fall even after medication was administered, the BBC reported.

The trial resumes Dec. 21, the court said.

Prosecutors charge Demjanjuk worked as a guard at the Sobibor extermination camp in Nazi-occupied Poland in 1943 and helped force 27,900 Jews to their deaths in the Holocaust. Demjanjuk maintains he was a Soviet soldier captured by the Germans and spent most of the war in prison camps.

Demjanjuk's lawyer has argued that his client should not be tried because of his poor health. Holocaust survivors have said Demjanjuk, who lost his U.S. citizenship when he was deported in May, is playing up his illness, the British broadcaster said.

Wednesday's proceeding was to have included testimony from 40 relatives of victims of Sobibor. A lawyer for some members of the group said they were "slightly frustrated" by the postponement, the BBC said.

The trial is expected to last until May. If found guilty, Demjanjuk could be sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Court debates Kosovo independence

THE HAGUE, Netherlands, Dec. 2 (UPI) -- The International Court of Justice in The Hague continued debate Wednesday on Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence in February 2008.

The United Nation's highest court heard arguments from Serbia and Kosovo's Albanian representatives on the first day of its proceedings, Serbia's B92 reports.

Belgrade charged Tuesday Kosovo's declaration of independence was an ethnically motivated act of secession that undermines the foundations of international law. Albania, Germany and Saudi Arabia will be the first countries to present legal arguments in favor of Kosovo's independence.

China, the United States and Russia are also scheduled to address the court with each nation allowed 45 minutes for its presentation.

The judges are expected to deliberate the case for several months before rendering an opinion.

Dixon's future as Baltimore mayor cloudy

BALTIMORE, Dec. 2 (UPI) -- Some supporters of Baltimore Mayor Shelia Dixon said her future as a public official is in doubt after her misdemeanor theft conviction.

"I don't think she can continue to be mayor," Councilwoman Rochelle Spector told The Baltimore Sun in an article published Wednesday. "I'm sorry because she has been a good mayor."

Dixon was convicted Tuesday of a misdemeanor charge of stealing gift cards worth about $500 that were donated to poor children and families in her city. She was acquitted of official misconduct and felony theft, while the jury was unable to reach a verdict on a fraudulent misappropriation charge.

A sentencing date hasn't been scheduled. Dixon faces penalties ranging from unsupervised probation to five years in prison.

The Maryland Constitution calls for removing elected officials from office when they are sentenced for a crime related to their public duties, prompting questions about whether Dixon can continue to lead the city, the Sun said.

City Council President Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, who would become mayor if Dixon were to leave office, offered a low-key reaction to the verdict.

"I think we have to let the legal process play out," she said. "There are rules."

Separately, Dixon is scheduled to go to trial in March on charges of failing to disclose gifts from ex- boyfriend, Ronald Lipscomb, a developer who received lucrative city tax incentives, the Sun reported.

Woods: 'I have let my family down'

WINDERMERE, Fla., Dec. 2 (UPI) -- U.S. golfer Tiger Woods issued an apology Wednesday after a much-publicized car crash, saying, "I have let my family down."

The world's most famous athlete posted a statement on his Web site, saying, "I have let my family down and I regret those transgressions with all of my heart. I have not been true to my values and the behavior my family deserves."

The statement came as media speculation mounted about Woods' private life in the aftermath of last week's car crash, in which authorities found him semi-conscious and bleeding from the lips after running his car into a fire hydrant and a tree outside his neighbor's Windermere, Fla., home.

"I am not without faults and I am far short of perfect," Woods' statement continued. "I am dealing with my behavior and personal failings behind closed doors with my family. Those feelings should be shared by us alone."

Woods complained that he and his family have been "hounded to expose intimate details of our personal lives. The stories in particular that physical violence played any role in the car accident were utterly false and malicious."

Woods was charged Tuesday with careless driving by the Florida Highway Patrol and faces a $164 fine.