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Iran enrichment moves spur sanctions calls

PARIS, Feb. 8 (UPI) -- Iran's move to proceed with the enrichment of its nuclear fuel resulted in new calls for sanctions Monday from the United States, France and Russia.

Iran reportedly indicated to the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna Monday that it plans to begin enriching its uranium stockpile to 20 percent purity. Tehran claims the fuel is for a medical research reactor but the United States and others suspect it is meant for a nuclear weapon.

The West says Tehran has backed away from U.N. offers to have its uranium enriched abroad at levels sufficient for medical research but not for a bomb, but Iran says its counteroffers are being dismissed.

"The only path that is left to us at this point, it seems to me, is that pressure track," U.S. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said at a news conference in Paris Monday, The New York Times reported. "But it will require all of the international community to work together."

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner added, "The only thing we can do, alas, is apply sanctions given that negotiations are impossible."

Blizzard-weary U.S. eyes new storm

BALTIMORE, Feb. 8 (UPI) -- The federal government will be closed for a second straight day as the mid-Atlantic state braced for more snow on top of last week's blizzard, officials said.

The Office of Personnel Management said in a message on its Web site federal agencies in the Washington area will be closed Tuesday. Emergency federal workers "are expected to report for work on time" but most non-emergency workers' absences will be excused.

National Weather Service meteorologist Bryan Jackson told The Baltimore Sun that even as the region was digging out from more than 2 feet of snow in many areas, a new storm was on the way for Tuesday night -- which under some computer models was suggesting snow totals as high as 10 to 20 inches.

"We're not looking, certainly, at anything as significant as what we just had. But we are looking at the potential for winter-storm-watch-criteria snowfall," Jackson told the newspaper.

The Weather Service was only going as high as 5 inches in its predictions, but some private forecasters were saying the new storm's moisture content is hinting that much more snow was possible.

The Sun said if Baltimore receives as little 3 inches of snow from the new storm, the city will break its all-time record for total snowfall in a single winter season, now set at 62.5 inches from the winter of 1995-1996.

In Pittsburgh, forecasters were eyeing new storm totals of 4 to 8 inches of snow.

"This does bring up some concerns considering that the roads might not be in good shape yet," National Weather Service meteorologist Charlie Woodrum told the Pittsburgh Tribune Review. "Ground temperatures are going to be well below freezing, so any snow that falls is going to stick pretty quickly."

Doctor pleads not guilty in Jackson death

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 8 (UPI) -- Michael Jackson's personal physician pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter charges Monday in Los Angeles in connection with the pop icon's death.

Conrad Murray appeared before Judge Keith Schwartz and entered a not guilty plea after turning himself in at a branch courthouse near Los Angeles International Airport, CNN reported.

Bail was set at $75,000, the Los Angeles Times said.

Michael Jackson's parents, Joe and Katherine, and three of his brothers were at the courthouse when Murray arrived. CNN reported that when he was asked for his reaction to the charge of involuntary manslaughter, brother Jermaine Jackson said, "Not enough."

Murray had been under investigation for his treatment of Jackson in the time leading to the singer's death at age 50 with lethal levels of the anesthesia propofol and sedatives in his system.

Police have said Murray, based in Texas, admitted he administered the drugs to Jackson to help him sleep shortly before he died June 25, 2009.

The Superior Court complaint against Murray claims he "did unlawfully, and without malice, kill Michael Joseph Jackson" by acting "without due caution and circumspection," reports said.

Murray has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and his lawyer has said he fully cooperated with the investigation.

Barzee strikes plea deal in kidnap case

SALT LAKE CITY, Feb. 8 (UPI) -- Elizabeth Smart kidnapper Wanda Barzee pleaded "guilty but mentally ill" to an unrelated Utah abduction charge Monday, attorneys said.

Defense attorney Scott Williams said Barzee's plea deal came in connection with a July 24, 2002, incident in which Barzee's husband, Brian David Mitchell, allegedly attempted to kidnap Smart's cousin about seven weeks after the Smart kidnapping, The (Salt Lake City) Deseret News reported.

Williams said Barzee pleaded "guilty but mentally ill" to one count of conspiracy to commit aggravated kidnapping, a second-degree felony in the case. In November, she pleaded guilty to federal charges of kidnapping and unlawful transportation of a minor in connection to Smart's abduction.

"It's a global resolution. It shouldn't be considered separate from her federal case," Williams told the News.

"She did admit her guilt in the kidnapping of Elizabeth Smart," Salt Lake County Deputy District Attorney Alicia Cook added.

Street preacher Mitchell, 56, and Barzee, 64, were accused in the kidnapping of Smart, then 14, in June 2002 from her Salt Lake City home. They were arrested in March 2003 while walking with the young girl in Sandy, Utah.

Lawyer: Peterson wife said 'Drew did it'

CHICAGO, Feb. 8 (UPI) -- Accused killer Drew Petersen's third wife Kathleen Savio told her lawyer if she died "you need to let people know that Drew did it," an Illinois court heard.

Attorney Harry C. Smith, who also represented Peterson's fourth wife Stacy Peterson, testified that when Stacy was considering divorcing Peterson, she asked the attorney, "Can we get more money out of Drew if we threatened to tell police how he killed Kathy?," the Chicago Tribune reported Monday.

Shortly after that, in 2007, Stacy Peterson disappeared.

Smith's testimony was given during a hearing to decide which, if any, of a number of hearsay statements can be introduced as evidence in the upcoming murder trial of Drew Peterson, charged with Savio's 2004 death.

Savio's body was found in her bathtub and her death was ruled an accident. But after Stacy Peterson went missing, Savio's body was exhumed and her death reclassified as a homicide.

Prosecutors are expected to call their last witness in the now two-weeklong hearing this week.

Peterson's lawyers will then have the chance to call their own witnesses, the Tribune said.