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TAMPA, Fla. - Former "American Idol" finalist Jessica Sierra was arrested early Sunday on felony battery charges for allegedly hitting a man on the head with a heavy glass at a cafe, police said. Sierra, 21, was booked in the Hillsborough County Jail on a charge of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon. She was also charged with possession of cocaine and introduction of contraband into a correctional facility after officers found a small amount of the drug while searching her, police spokeswoman Andrea Davis said. Sierra was released Sunday afternoon on $11,500 bail. There was no immediate indication if...

PHOENIX - A Border Patrol agent was charged Monday with first-degree murder in the shooting of an illegal immigrant at the border in January. An investigation found that Agent Nicholas Corbett's killing of Francisco Dominguez-Rivera, of Puebla, Mexico, was not legally justified, said Cochise County prosecutor Ed Rheinheimer. Corbett is also charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter and negligent homicide. Corbett's attorney, Daniel Santander, didn't immediately return a message left Monday afternoon by The Associated Press. The shooting, which drew condemnation from the Mexican government, occurred while Corbett was trying to apprehend Dominguez-Rivera and three others who were trying to enter...

Nigeria VP Charged With Corruption(AP) NEW YORK Nigeria's Vice President Atiku Abubakar was charged Tuesday at a special anti-graft court with more than a dozen counts of corruption stemming from the alleged diversion of $125 million of public funds to private interests. Charges filed by prosecutors before the Code of Conduct Tribunal in the Nigerian capital against Abubakar also include allegations he received more than $4.6 million in bribes. Abubakar, who is feuding with President Olusegun Obasanjo, has in the past dismissed the allegations as part of a plot to stop him from running for Nigeria's top office in April's...

SALT LAKE CITY - The parents of a bride-to-be told their daughter they were taking her on a shopping trip, but then drove to Colorado and kept her there until she missed the nuptials, officials said. Lemuel and Julia Redd have been charged with second-degree felony kidnapping. Utah County Attorney Kay Bryson said Tuesday he met with the couple's daughter, Julianna, and her now-husband Perry Myers before charging the parents. "I've never had a case quite like this," Bryson said. "It is strange that parents would go to that extent to keep an adult daughter from marrying the man that...

1 hour ago EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. - A woman was charged Saturday in the deaths of a pregnant friend and the fetus authorities believe she cut out from the slain woman's womb after knocking the victim unconscious. Tiffany Hall, 24, was charged as authorities implored the public for help in their search for the victim's two sons, ages 7 and 2, and 1-year-old daughter. Authorities say they were last seen with Hall on Monday, three days before she was taken into custody. Hall, who was jailed on $5 million bond, faces charges of first-degree murder and intentional homicide of...

LONDON (AFP) - A 13th person was charged in connection with the foiled alleged terror plot to blow up US-bound passenger jets from Britain, a police spokesman told AFP. Nabeel Hussain was one of 25 people arrested since police staged pre-dawn raids on August 10 in connection with the plot. Five have since been released without charge. Police also have warrants to quiz the remaining seven until Wednesday. Under British anti-terror laws, suspects can be detained for up to 28 days without being charged, subject to regular court approval. Hussain is the ninth of the terror suspects to be hit...

CHICAGO -- A Pulitzer Prize-winning foreign correspondent for the Chicago Tribune was charged in a Sudanese court Saturday with espionage and other crimes. Paul Salopek, 44, was charged in a 40-minute hearing with espionage, passing information illegally and writing "false news," the Tribune reported on its Web site. His driver and interpreter, both Chadian nationals, faced the same charges. ---snip--- "He had no agenda other than to fairly and accurately report on the region," Johns said. ---snip---

LONDON - Police found martyrdom videos and bomb-making components during the investigation of the alleged plot to blow up U.S.-bound jetliners, prosecutors said Monday in announcing 11 people had been charged with terrorism offenses. Officials confirmed for the first time that the plot involved the manufacture of explosives, which were to be used to assemble and detonate bombs inside as many as 10 airliners. U.S. officials previously had said the plot appeared to involve mixing liquid-based chemicals to make explosives aboard the aircrafts. One person was released from custody Monday and police continued to interrogate 11 others who remain "under...

MEXICO CITY - Mexican prosecutors announced Saturday that they have charged two policemen with protecting the Arellano Felix drug trafficking gang, whose alleged kingpin was recently arrested by the U.S. Coast Guard. Large numbers of Mexican police officers are believed to have helped the Tijuana-based Arellano Felix gang move tons of Colombian cocaine and Mexican marijuana to the United States, but few officials have been charged. Officers Jorge Alberto Perez and Salvador Cebreros face organized crime charges and also are being investigated for involvement in the killing of four of their colleagues, who were shot dead in July, the attorney...

RICHMOND, Va. - A Sailor accused of taking a Navy laptop containing classified information and peddling its contents to foreign governments is being held for possible court-martial, the military Wednesday. The Navy said that Petty Officer 3rd Class Ariel J. Weinmann gave the classified information, containing national defense data, to an undisclosed foreign government before he destroyed the computer. Weinmann, 21, of Salem, Ore., was confined at Norfolk Naval Air Station on six charges, the Navy said in a statement. The charges include three counts of espionage, including a suspected March 2005 visit to Bahrain, where Weinmann tried to pass...

A Marine officer was charged Wednesday with assaulting three civilians in the Iraqi town of Hamdania last spring. The Marine Corps said that 2nd Lt. Nathan P. Phan beat the three men so severely on April 10 they could have died. He is accused of choking two victims and putting a loaded M9 service pistol into the mouth of one of the men. Phan, 26, also is charged with making a false official statement. Defense attorney David Sheldon said Phan denies the charges. "We stand by the fact that these charges are baseless and have no merit," Sheldon said. "Lt....

program show for 8/09/06, 6:00 PM EST Broken Borders We will bring you a shocking report from the U.S.-Mexico border on two border patrol agents who could face life in prison for enforcing border security.

SAN DIEGO Assault charges were filed against six Marines on Thursday as the result of an incident that occurred in April in the Iraqi village of Hamdania and was uncovered during an unrelated investigation into the slaying of an Iraqi civilian later that month, military officials said. Three of the Marines charged Thursday are currently in the brig at Camp Pendleton on kidnapping and murder charges in connection with the April 26 slaying of 52-year-old Hashim Ibrahim Awad in Hamdania. The other three had not been charged in that case. Meanwhile, a seventh Marine, an officer, is expected to be...

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio - The wife of a Pennsylvania doctor surrendered Monday to face charges in the shooting death of her millionaire husband last year along the Ohio Turnpike. Hours earlier, a man linked romantically to her pleaded guilty in the case. Donna Moonda, 47, was charged in federal court with interstate stalking that resulted in death and with using a firearm in a violent crime. Earlier in the day, Damian Bradford, 25, of Monaca, Pa., near Pittsburgh, admitted in an Akron court to his involvement in the shooting and agreed to cooperate with authorities. Prosecutors said Bradford was the triggerman....

One is described as a patriot. Another is said to be a bookworm and budding poet. One loves the Red Sox; another loves animals. Ongoing Coverage: Hamdania One helped feed the homeless at a soup kitchen last Thanksgiving, and another had plans to leave the service and become an architect. Until this spring, their common bond was service as members of Kilo Company from the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment based at Camp Pendleton. Now, each has a much different kind of bond: They are imprisoned in the base brig for allegedly conspiring to kidnap, bind and kill Hashim Ibrahim...

A DOCTOR accused of performing an illegal abortion told her receptionist she had "done something silly" when police first turned up at her surgery, a Sydney court was told today. Doctor Suman Sood allegedly made the comment to her receptionist, Joan Chodat, the day after a woman gave birth to a four months premature baby boy. The 20-year-old woman had sought an abortion at Dr Sood's Fairfield clinic, the NSW Supreme Court has been told. On May 20, 2002, Dr Sood allegedly gave her the drug prostaglandin in preparation for a termination. But the woman gave birth the next day...

WASHINGTON, July 9, 2006 – Charges have been preferred against four U.S. soldiers accused of rape and murder in connection with the deaths of four Iraqi civilians in March. A fifth soldier has been accused of dereliction of duty for failing to report the offenses, U.S. officials announced today. The five soldiers were charged yesterday in connection with their alleged participation in the rape and murder of a young Iraqi woman and the murders of three members of her family. The fifth soldier was charged with dereliction of duty for his failure to report the rape and murder of these...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Three former employees of a US auto parts company have been indicted on charges of stealing company secrets and providing them to a Chinese rival, authorities said. The Justice Department said that Anne Lockwood, formerly a vice president for sales at Metaldyne, her husband Michael Haehnel, a former Metaldyne engineer and Fuping Lui, an ex-Metaldyne metallurgist were indicted in Detroit, Michigan, on 64 counts. "Regardless of the highly competitive rough and tumble of today's global automotive industry, stealing is still stealing," US Attorney Stephen J. Murphy said in a statement. The indictment unsealed Wednesday alleges that the...

WASHINGTON - An Interior Department employee is charged with filing a false financial report in a case arising from the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal. The misdemeanor charge, filed in federal court, says that Roger Stillwell, an employee of the Interior Department's insular affairs office, knowingly filed a false financial disclosure statement. Prosecutors say Stillwell failed to list gifts he received from a prohibited source. A Justice Department official confirmed that the charge is part of the Abramoff investigation. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the two-page document filed Tuesday by the Justice Department's public integrity section does not...

LOS ANGELES Prosecutors on Monday filed one felony count of cocaine possession against a radio host and Hollywood music consultant who was arrested by police after an encounter with a 14-year-old girl. Prosecutors concluded there was insufficient evidence to file additional charges against Chris Douridas, a KCRW-FM disk jockey who was nominated for a Grammy for his work on the soundtrack to "American Beauty." "Police and prosecutors did an exhaustive investigation, and after a complete review we determined the appropriate count was filed," said Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for the district attorney's office. He faces up to three years in...