Sudan president visit to China delayed

Omar al-Bashir is the subject of an ICC arrest warrant for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.NEW: Sudanese president's plane left Iran for China but turned back, Sudanese officials sayNEW: There were fears that some countries would act while his plane was above their airspace, the officials sayThe Sudanese president was scheduled to visit China

Beijing (CNN) -- The Sudanese president was scheduled to arrive in China on Monday, but the visit has been delayed without official explanation, Chinese ministry officials said.

Omar al-Bashir is the subject of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in the region of Darfur, where war has continued since 2003.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry said it had no information about why al-Bashir's arrival has been delayed. The Sudanese Embassy in Beijing said it did not know how the delay would affect his schedule.

Al-Bashir left Tehran, Iran on Sunday to attend a conference on combating terrorism, the state-run news agency in Sudan reported.

His plane left Iran to go to China but returned to Iran because of concerns over attempts to enforce the international court's warrant, senior government officials in Sudan said.

There were fears that countries that recognize the International Criminal Court would take action if al-Bashir's plane crossed their airspace on its way from Iran to China, the officials said.

China voted against the statute that created the International Criminal Court and is not among more than 100 countries that recognize it.

Prior to his trip, the Sudanese leader gave an interview with China's state-run news agency, Xinhua, in which he touted the longstanding ties between the two nations.

"We regard China as the strategic partner for Sudan in various fields, including the political, economic, commercial and cultural," al-Bashir said in the interview, published Sunday by Xinhua. "China does not interfere in the internal affairs of others. The success of the Sino-Sudanese cooperation has pushed the African countries to search for the real and loyal partner."

Last week, the advocacy group Human Rights Watch called China's invitation to al-Bashir "an affront to victims of heinous crimes committed in Darfur."

"Al-Bashir's flouting of international arrest warrants should be cause for condemnation, not for an invitation," said Richard Dicker, the group's international justice director. "Beijing should instead be using its influence to press for justice in Darfur."

The Sudanese president has deflected opposition to him, telling Xinhua in a story posted Saturday that Western nations went after him and his forces in order to "cover up the acts committed in Iraq and Afghanistan."

Al-Bashir, who became Sudan's president in 1993, is scheduled to be in China through Thursday at the invitation of its president Hu Jintao, according to Xinhua.

This will be his fourth visit to the Asian nation, after trips there in 1990, 1995 and 2006, when he attended a Sino-Africa Cooperation Forum summit in Beijing.

CNN's Nima Elbagir contributed to this report

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Anthony trial delayed over legal issue

Orlando (CNN) -- What had been planned as an extended weekend work day in the Casey Anthony murder trial abruptly ended Saturday morning as the judge overseeing the case ordered a recess over the sudden emergence of what one analyst said must be a major issue.

"Obviously it's big, and obviously it's troublesome and obviously it's something that can't be disclosed," HLN legal analyst Linda Kenney Baden said.

Judge Belvin Perry emerged from his chambers Saturday morning after nearly an hour of discussions with attorneys both in and out of the courtroom to announce the day's planned testimony would be canceled.

He said only that the delay was due to a legal issue unrelated to complaints prosecutors raised first thing Saturday morning about expected testimony from Kenneth Furton, a chemistry expert the defense had planned to call Saturday.

Anthony's lawyers are trying to discredit the prosecution theory that the Orlando woman rendered her 2-year-old daughter Caylee unconscious with chloroform, duct-taped her mouth and nose and stored the body in her trunk for a few days before dumping it in the woods. Anthony, 25, is charged with seven counts, including first-degree murder.

The defense says Caylee accidentally drowned in the family pool and that Anthony and her father panicked and covered it up.

In what has become a familiar strain during the trial, prosecutor Jeff Ashton complained to Perry that defense attorneys didn't disclose Furton's plans to testify about things that weren't contained in his initial report provided to prosecutors or mentioned in his formal interview with them.

Perry has previously admonished Baez for failing to disclose planned testimony to prosecutors, going so far as to say he will consider contempt proceedings against him once the trial is over.

Furton was to testify about explanations for vile odors and the presence of chloroform in the trunk of Casey Anthony's car, where prosecutors claim Anthony stored the body of 2-year-old Casey Anthony before dumping the remains in a wooded field.

Chloroform can be given off by a decomposing body, and one prosecution expert described the levels of the substance in the trunk of Anthony's white Pontiac Sunfire as "shockingly high." Several witnesses also testified for the state about odors that they said smelled like the unmistakable scent of human decomposition.

Furton did not provide specific alternative explanations for the presence of odors or chloroform in his initial report or in his interview with prosecutors, Ashton complained.

"Once again we are in the position of experts having supplemented their opinions without notifying the state," Ashton said.

Defense attorney Jose Baez disagreed, saying nothing in Furton's planned testimony differed from his previous opinions.

"Mr. Ashton can continue to make these allegations and make these allegations and then suddenly they become true in his world," Baez said. "But I do not believe they are true."

Perry indicated that he would not allow Furton to testify on Saturday, but didn't rule on the controversy before ordering the trial to recess until 8:30 a.m. Monday morning. But he did hint at his frustration.

"You would think this would have grown old by now but I guess some things never change," he said.

Saturday marked the end of the fifth week of testimony in the trial, which began with opening statements on May 24.

Perry lengthened Saturday's work day from the usual half-day in an effort to speed the trial's conclusion. He originally told jurors, who are being housed in an Orlando hotel shielded from media coverage of the trial, that the trial could last six to eight weeks.

On Friday -- before Saturday's delay -- Baez said he expected the defense to rest on Wednesday or possibly Thursday. That would leave room for a rebuttal case from the prosecution and closing statements before the Independence Day holiday.

It is unclear how Saturday's delay will affect those plans.

Anthony could face the death penalty if convicted of the most serious charge, first degree murder. The charges against her also include misleading authorities and aggravated child abuse.

Caylee was not reported missing to police until July 15, 2008, when Anthony's mother, Cindy Anthony, tracked down her daughter and demanded answers regarding Caylee's whereabouts. Prosecution witnesses described Anthony's behavior in the month after Caylee was last seen as nonchalant, testifying how she spent time with her boyfriend, went shopping and to nightclubs.

Baez said in his opening statement that Anthony behaved as she did because years of sexual abuse by her father and had conditioned her to conceal the truth and hide her pain.

George Anthony has denied the claims that he abused his daughter or helped conceal his granddaughter's death.

CNN's Michael Christian contributed to this report.

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Trial of U.S. hikers in Iran delayed again, diplomat says

Shane Bauer (left) and Josh Fattal have been detained in Iran since their arrest during a 2009 hiking trip near the Iranian border.The trial is postponed after the suspects are not brought from prison to court "There were no reasons given why they were not brought in," a diplomat says The defense attorney says he doesn't know when the trial will resumeThe hikers' families say the development is "extremely troubling"

(CNN) -- The scheduled trial of two Americans accused of espionage in Iran was delayed again Wednesday after the suspects were not brought from prison to the courthouse, a Swiss diplomat and their defense attorney told CNN.

"I have been able to verify that the session has actually been postponed due to the absence of the two prisoners. They were not brought in from prison," said an official with the Swiss Embassy in Tehran, who, according to protocol, asked not to be identified. Switzerland represents U.S. interests in Iran.

Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer were set to stand trial on Wednesday. The two were charged with espionage after being arrested nearly 22 months ago while hiking along an unmarked border between Iran and Iraqi Kurdistan. The two Americans were expected to appear in Branch 15 of Tehran's Revolutionary court Wednesday morning.

"There were no reasons given why they were not brought in," the diplomat said. Iranian authorities once again barred Swiss diplomats from monitoring the proceedings.

"Shane and Josh were not brought up from the jail to the courtroom today," said defense attorney Masoud Shafii. He said he also does not know the reason for the postponement, but does not believe it was because a third hiker released on bail, Sarah Shourd, did not return to Iran for proceedings.

The families of Bauer and Fattal issued a statement saying they also do not know why the two were not brought to court, "but we are even more deeply concerned for their health and welfare as a result of their non-appearance.

"Their unexplained absence from the hearing, and the fact that their lawyer, Mr. Masoud Shafii, continues to be denied access to Shane and Josh, is extremely troubling," the statement said.

The hikers' trial began in February, but was delayed until Wednesday.

Shafii told CNN Tuesday he had yet to be granted a private meeting with his clients.

"What I hope is that the court comes to a decision," Shafii said. "This case must be closed. It has gone on long enough."

On Wednesday, Shafii said he will continue to request a meeting with his clients.

"I am not sure when the next court date will be set," he said. "I now must wait for a letter from the court with the new date. I am hoping it will be soon. They (Bauer and Fattal) have already served time that was not warranted."

He said the judiciary, not prison authorities, is responsible for getting the defendants to court, and he has filed a formal complaint.

Human rights organizations have launched direct appeals to Iranian officials calling for the Americans' release.

"The endless prosecution of the two hikers appears to be little more than a political jab at the United States," said Sarah Leah Whitson of the New York-based organization Human Rights Watch. "This case highlights the cruel and arbitrary nature of the Iranian justice system."

In a separate statement, Amnesty International's Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui said the Iranian justice system "has systematically failed to observe international fair trial standards in this case, including giving the men adequate contact with their lawyer, families or consular assistance."

The third U.S. citizen who was arrested with the men on the border in 2009 and accused of spying has refused to attend Wednesday's scheduled court hearing after being released on bail last year.

Iranian authorities allowed Sarah Shourd, Bauer's fiancee, to leave the country on "humanitarian grounds" after she paid a $500,000 bail.

Shourd said she would not return because she suffers from severe post-traumatic stress disorder after spending 14 months in Tehran's notorious Evin prison.

In an essay published this week in The New York Times, Shourd wrote that Fattal and Bauer's cell "contains two beds, a sink, a toilet, a shower and an empty space about the size of a large beach towel. With fluorescent lights continuously kept on, Josh and Shane never enjoy the luxury of darkness; in order to sleep at night they have to tie a shirt around their eyes."

An Iranian prosecutor said investigators found "compelling evidence" that all three Americans were spies.

Suspects convicted on espionage charges can face the death penalty in Iran. All three have maintained their innocence.

"They were strictly travelers who were near an unmarked border that no one would be able to know whether it was Iraq or Iran," defense lawyer Shafii has said.

"Today's development appears to be yet another example of the arbitrary treatment Shane and Josh have been subjected to for more than 21 months," their families said in their statement. "The Iranian authorities continue to play games with their lives and the constant uncertainty and fear for Shane and Josh is ruining our lives as well. The charges against Shane and Josh are baseless. As we have said all along, there is no reason to put Shane and Josh on trial."

The picturesque mountain border region where the Americans were detained is a popular picnic and camping destination for Iraqi Kurds. The border is also porous. Smugglers regularly cross the frontier on donkeys and horseback, bringing fuel to Iraq and alcohol into the Islamic Republic of Iran.

CNN's Shirzad Bozorgmehr contributed to this report.

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Endeavor launch delayed until April 29

By the CNN Wire Staff STORY HIGHLIGHTSShuttle launch delayed for 10 days, NASA says, until April 29Scheduling conflict involved a Russian cargo ship's docking with international space stationEndeavor underwent inspections after minor weather damage last week (CNN) -- The launch of the space shuttle Endeavor, originally scheduled for April 19, has been delayed until April 29, NASA said Monday.

The delay is due to a scheduling conflict with a Russian cargo ship that was scheduled to be docked at the international space station near Endeavor's original launch date, NASA's public information office said.

Endeavor underwent inspections for two days after thunderstorms, hail and a lightning strike last week near the launch pad caused minor damage to insulation foam at the top of the spacecraft.

Six astronauts are scheduled to fly in Endeavor's 36th and final mission later this month. Mark Kelly, the huband of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Arizona, will command the mission.

Giffords reportedly has plans to attend the launch. She is recovering after being severely wounded in a shooting that killed six people in January in Tucson, Arizona.

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