George H.W. Bush witness at Maine same-sex wedding

KENNEBUNK, Maine (AP) — Former President George H.W. Bush was an official witness at the same-sex wedding of two longtime friends, his spokesman said Wednesday.

Bush and his wife, Barbara Bush, attended the ceremony joining Bonnie Clement and Helen Thorgalsen as private citizens and friends on Saturday, spokesman Jim McGrath said.

Thorgalsen posted a photo on her Facebook page showing Bush signing the marriage license as a witness. She captioned the photo: "Getting our marriage license witnessed!"

In the photo, Bush is seated in a wheelchair, a stack of papers on his lap and his left hand poised with a pen. One bright red sock and one bright blue one peek out below the cuffs of his blue slacks.

The 41st president has deep ties to the area and owns a compound in Kennebunkport, a small coastal town. Thorgalsen and Clement own a general store in neighboring Kennebunk. They were honeymooning overseas and didn't immediately respond to an email seeking comment Wednesday.

Gay marriage became legal in Maine in December.

One of Bush's sons, former President George W. Bush, opposed same-sex marriage and in 2004 announced his support for a proposed constitutional amendment to outlaw it. But his wife, Laura Bush, and their daughter Barbara Bush support gay marriage, as does his former vice president, Dick Cheney, whose daughter Mary Cheney is openly gay.

A spokesman for George W. Bush on Wednesday declined to comment on his current feelings about same-sex marriage or his thoughts about his father's role in a same-sex wedding.

In July, George W. Bush made headlines when he said he wouldn't comment on the issue, saying he "shouldn't be taking a speck out of someone else's eye when I have a log in my own." He later explained that he just wasn't going to answer the question because he was out of politics.

His brother Jeb Bush, a former governor of Florida and a potential presidential candidate, has said same-sex marriage is an issue best left to the states to decide. In a speech in June, he told the Faith & Freedom Coalition the nation needs to be supportive of non-traditional families.

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Former President George H.W. Bush is witness at same-sex wedding

By Brendan O'Brien

(Reuters) - Former President George H.W. Bush and his wife, Barbara, were the official witnesses of a same-sex marriage between two women in Maine over the weekend, a spokesman said on Wednesday.

The former first couple witnessed the private ceremony on Saturday in Kennebunk between Bonnie Clement and Helen Thorgalsen, according to Jim McGrath, a Bush spokesman.

Clement posted a photograph on her Facebook page of President Bush signing a piece of paper as the couple, close friends of the Bushes, watched and held champagne glasses.

The couple owns H.B. Provisions, a general store in Kennebunk, Maine. The former president owns a compound in Kennebunkport, about four miles (six km) east of Kennebunk.

Maine is one of 13 states that allows gay marriage.

In June, the U.S. Supreme Court threw out a key part of the Defense of Marriage Act, which barred same-sex couples from federal marriage benefits. But the high court declined to rule on whether gay men and lesbians have a fundamental right to marry, leaving it to states to decide.

The ruling has led to legal challenges in federal and state courts to laws that restrict the rights of gays and lesbians.

Several other notable Republicans have voiced support for gay marriage, including Bush's son, former President George W. Bush.

But same-sex marriage is opposed by most Republicans. A Gallup poll in July found 66 percent of Republicans were against making same-sex marriage legal in all 50 states.

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus reiterated in July the party's stand that marriage was between one man and one woman.

(Reporting by Brendan O'Brien; Editing by Ellen Wulfhorst and Eric Beech)

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Harvard prof is star witness at WikiLeaks trial

FORT MEADE, Md. (AP) — A Harvard law professor is taking center stage in the court-martial of an Army private who gave classified information to WikiLeaks.

Yochai Benkler is the star defense witness Wednesday in the trial of Pfc. Bradley Manning at Fort Meade, near Baltimore.

Benkler has praised the anti-secrecy website as a new-media watchdog. He calls the prosecution of Manning part of a broader attack on WikiLeaks aimed at crippling its ability to function.

He says the attack is inconsistent with America's commitment to a free press and free speech.

Manning is charged with aiding the enemy for admittedly sending reams of classified information to WikiLeaks while working as an intelligence analyst in Iraq.

Manning says he meant to expose wrongdoing. Prosecutors say he knew the material would be seen by al-Qaida.

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WikiLeaks witness takes the Fifth

David House said the only information he gave the grand jury in the WikiLeaks case was his name and address.Supporter of WikiLeaks suspect refused to testify before grand juryFriend David House calls the grand jury "Nixonian"Suspect has been held for 11 months, accused of leaking classified documentsCNN takes you into the private world of WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange. Watch "WikiWars: The Mission of Julian Assange," on CNN on Saturday, June 18, at 8 p.m. ET.

Alexandria, Virginia (CNN) -- A friend and leading supporter of WikiLeaks suspect Bradley Manning said Wednesday he refused to testify before a grand jury, citing his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination.

David House, one of the founding members of the Bradley Manning Support Network, told reporters after his hourlong court appearance the only information he gave the grand jury was his name and address.

Army Pvt. Bradley Manning is accused of leaking classified thousands of U.S. military and State Department documents to the whistleblower WikiLeaks website.

House said the grand jury was becoming "Nixonian," in that its intent is to "increase the climate of fear ... surrounding WikiLeaks and Bradley Manning."

"In my opinion, this is just another step in the government's ongoing investigation, a very ham-fisted investigation, centered around the Cambridge, Massachusetts, area," House said.

House is among the first of a series of Boston area residents scheduled to testify before the grand jury.

Manning has been held for 11 months, since March at the Joint Regional Correctional Facility at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

Initially he was held in maximum confinement in the brig at Quantico Marine Base in Virginia where critics, including House, said he was being mistreated.

House, who was one of the few visitors to see Manning in Quantico, told CNN in February that Manning seemed "frazzled." He said Manning was "sometimes simply catatonic, unable to have conversations about anything, really."

The Pentagon denies allegations that Manning has been mistreated. House said he flew to court from Boston at the U.S. government's expense.

CNN

Police deny destroying cell phone of witness to Florida shooting

(CNN) -- Miami Beach authorities are disputing an allegation by a witness to a fatal police shooting in Florida that his cell phone was "smashed" by officers because he filmed their actions.

The police department denied Narces Benoit's claim that his phone was crushed by an officer last week after he recorded a video of the fatal shooting.

Authorities supplied photos of the phone in question, saying they demonstrate the phone is only slightly damaged, "and it is unknown when this damage occurred."

In Benoit's video, gunfire breaks out, and officers are seen firing on a car. The fatal shooting of an erratic driver on Memorial Day has made headlines nationwide after Benoit's video and others became public.

In the video, officers are seen instructing Benoit to stop filming. One officer, whose words are unclear, points his gun directly into the camera before backing away.

Benoit and his girlfriend, Ericka Davis, asserted that officers smashed the phones of other witnesses as well, but a police department spokesman said Monday they received no other complaints of damaged property.

The statement said police took several phones from witnesses, but says that was done to obtain evidence.

"Any and all video of the incident is crucial to the investigation, and it is not unusual for police to secure any video that may have evidentiary value," the statement said.

CNN affiliate WPLG reported that police confiscated a camera form one of their photographers and later returned it.

The police statement also defended the handling of Benoit, saying he was detained because he "matched the description of one of the subjects just reported fleeing the scene and, further, because he ignored repeated commands as he quickly walked towards and entered his vehicle."

Benoit says he was following an officer's instructions to get back into his truck, only to be hauled out of it, thrown on the ground, and handcuffed shortly thereafter.

Miami Beach police say they are still investigating the fatal shooting of the driver Benoit captured on tape.

Officers stopped Raymond Herisse in his car at 4 a.m. on memorial day, but after an altercation, he sped off, police said.

A video posted on YouTube, which CNN cannot independently confirm, shows a commotion as a car moving erratically comes to a stop at an intersection.

Bystanders scatter as officers surround the car with guns drawn, and gunfire breaks out.

Herisse was killed, and four bystanders were injured by gunfire, according to police.

"We could have been killed," Davis said. "They were shooting so long, you could hear their guns clicking on empty, but they kept pulling the trigger," she said. "I think that's excessive."

CNN

Yemen troops fire on protest: Witness

The teachers say the government hasn't followed through with higher wagesMany were injured, witnesses said, and the death toll is expected to riseThe GCC-brokered agreement that calls for Saleh's departure is still in the works

(CNN) -- Security personnel in the Yemeni city of Taiz opened fire on a demonstration Sunday by thousands of teachers and killed two of the educators, witnesses and others said.

At least 50 people were injured, including 11 by gunfire, according to witnesses and members of field medical teams. The death toll is expected to rise because three people are in critical condition.

Thousands of teachers staged the march to call for the implementation of a wage increase and the departure from office of Yemen's president, Ali Abdullah Saleh.

A senior security official in Taiz who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media wouldn't confirm casualties or claims that security forces shot anyone.

But he said that protesters were carrying weapons. That assertion was staunchly disputed by the witnesses.

Saleh's impoverished and unstable nation has been wracked by anti-government protests and clashes between demonstrators and security forces for many weeks.

"We called for the march yesterday against this oppressive regime that will not give us our rights," Fuad Dahabah, head of the Teachers Syndicate in Yemen. "They fired on us as we were marching peacefully."

Dahabah, who also confirmed the death of the two teachers, said the syndicate announced in April that they joined the Yemeni protests because of oppression and because they have not yet been paid higher wages agreed upon in a signed deal with the government last year.

"Teachers were marching demanding their rights and salaries," said Abdul Karim Ali, one of the marchers.

Despite the firing of tear gas and bullets, the march continued, witnesses said.

The senior security official in Taiz told CNN that marchers were armed, attacked government forces, threatened locals, forced shop owners to close their businesses and closed main roads.

"We accept them expressing their opinion, but when they attack others we must step in," the official said. "Security forces would never use force; they would only do so if lives of other civilians were in danger."

Abdul Karim Ali rejected claims that protesters were armed saying this is the government's usual excuse to kill people.

"If we were armed why didn't any security forces get shot or killed. We protest peacefully and that is the best way to get our rights," Ali said.

The youth revolution committee in Yemen denounced the attack on teachers and demanded the international community intervene.

"The world is watching as Saleh continues to freely kill innocent unarmed protesters. These crimes will not be forgotten," said Riadh Abdullah, a leader in the youth committee, now in Sanaa.

A deal that would lead to Saleh's stepping down, brokered by the Gulf Arab nations, has been in the works.

The agreement stipulates that Saleh transfer power and leave office within 30 days of signing the deal.

It also provides immunity for him and those who served in his regime and calls for a unity government to be formed within seven days.

Saleh, who is unpopular in many quarters across Yemen, has been a U.S. ally in the fight against militants -- most prominently the Yemen wing of the al Qaeda terror network. Called al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the militant network has a strong presence in the country.

This week, a U.S. drone strike attempted but failed to take out Anwar al-Awlaki, the U.S.-born radical cleric based in Yemen tied to the AQAP.

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Witness: Syrian villagers in army protest

NEW: 4 women are killed in a nearby village, witnesses say26 people were killed Friday, a human rights group saysMass arrests are reported in BaniasIn Homs, funeral processions turn into anti-regime protests

(CNN) -- Syrian tanks and troops stormed a village near the Mediterranean city of Banias on Saturday, killing at least four women and injuring several others, witnesses said

Residents of Marquab formed a human chain to thwart the military but soldiers raided homes and opened fire, said witnesses who were not identified for security reasons.

A group of frightened and angry women fled to a mosque in the central square and demanded the release of family members who had been arbitrarily arrested, witnesses told CNN. The security forces opened fire.

Witnesses said the army then rolled into Banias. They reported heavy gunfire and severe damage to the city.

A teacher told CNN that "10,000 of us marched through the city of Banias yesterday carrying olive branches, and today our city is under siege."

A lawyer who was in the Marquab square reported men in army uniforms dispersed throughout the city and plainclothes snipers on rooftops. He asked why the international community was turning its back on his people.

"We have a crime in Syria called protests. The punishment is death," he said.

Communications were cut off and information was limited but Ammar Qurabi, chairman of the National Organization for Human Rights in Syria, told CNN that authorities had made mass arrests of protesters in the Banias area.

The state-run Syrian news agency said security forces were continuing pursuit of "members of the terrorist groups" in Banias as well as the southern city of Daraa, the hub of Syria's six-week uprising.

''A number of wanted terrorist members were arrested and weapons and ammunition used by these groups in attacks against the army and citizens and in terrorizing people were seized," SANA reported.

A wave of nationwide protests against President Bashar al-Assad on Friday left at least 26 activists and 10 security officers dead.

The National Organization for Human Rights said it "holds the Syrian authorities fully responsible for the crimes committed against the defenseless Syrian people." The group urged the international community to apply pressure on al-Assad to stop "using the method of brutal repression against its citizens."

Seven of the 26 protesters were buried Saturday in the restive city of Homs, where thousands chanted anti-regime slogans in funeral processions.

Security forces and army units were present along Hom's main thoroughfares and city gates but did not interfere in the funeral procession, said a witness who did not want to be identified for security reasons. After the funerals, Homs was deserted with shops shuttered and people too frightened to leave their homes.

CNN has not been granted access into Syria and is unable to independently verify witness accounts.

But CNN has spoken with witnesses, some of whom have posted homemade videos and reported what they see via social networking sites. Human rights organizations have also compiled reports.

Demonstrations have broken out across provinces and cities in Syria over the past six weeks, with security forces relying heavily on the army and the regime's guard to disperse demonstrations.

Amnesty International estimates 500 people have been killed in the clashes. In the past seven days alone, Qurabi said 3,000 people have been arrested.

So many people were arrested that the army and security forces converted a central stadium in the city of Daraa into a makeshift prison, he said. Daraa has borne the brunt of the Syrian government's crackdown and human rights groups have called on al-Assad to lift a siege there.

The demonstrations and government crackdown have garnered widespread international attention from many nations, the European Union and the United Nations.

On Friday, the White House press secretary condemned the Syrian government's use of violence and mass arrests, and saluted "the courage of Syrian protesters for insisting on their right to express themselves, and we regret the loss of life on all sides."

In a statement Friday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she was troubled by the Syrian government's use of force and intimidation against its people.

"I am particularly troubled by ongoing reports of deaths of citizens at the hands of the Syrian government, including accounts (Friday) that at least 30 people were killed when Syrian security forces again opened fire on peaceful protesters throughout the country," Clinton said.

CNN's Salma Abdelaziz and Rima Maktabi contributed to this report.

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NBA Playoffs Will Witness Rise Of New Stars This Year

People are not considering it as a surprise that change of guards is dominating NBA in this season. Playoffs will starts on Saturday; earlier, the top-seeded team’s squad was not favoured at the end of previous season. Observers were thinking that the title of NBA will go to South Beach because Miami Heat had brought Chris Bosh and Le Bron as superstars. This time, heat is rising from 2nd Seeded Eastern Conference because this team can go deeper into the playoffs. But the favours of people are with Chicago Bulls because they would get the advantage of a home-court and 22 year old Derrick Rose as their leader. General Manager of Chicago Bulls is Johan Paxson; he said that he had not known if Rose could be such a good player when Chicago Bulls drafted him in their team of 2008. According to him, Derrick Rose has been coming in every discussion of top five NBA players. Paxson added that speed and strength combinations of Derrick Rose were unique when he was spotted for the first time in his college basketball team. He played at the point-guard position in those times. This position is always considered as an important position to play. Even at the age of 19, Rose had many things to improve but now he has become a very good player of NBA. He deserves admiration because he has improved his game to perfection. He is an excellent defender of this team. He is popular for his premier shots.

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Jury deliberates Barry Bonds' fate, while reluctant witness is freed

Barry Bonds is charged with lying under oath when he testified about his steroids use in 2003. STORY HIGHLIGHTSBonds' trainer is ordered freed two weeks after he refused to testifyThe jury was given the Bonds perjury case to decide Thursday afternoonThe baseball legend faces three perjury counts and an obstruction of justice chargeThe charges stem from a federal probe of athletes' steroid useRELATED TOPICSBarry BondsDrugs in SportsPerjury San Francisco (CNN) -- Barry Bonds' former trainer was freed Friday from the prison where he's been held since he refused to testify in the baseball legend's perjury trial two weeks ago.

With the jury now deliberating the perjury and obstruction of justice case against Bonds, U.S. District Judge Susan Illston ordered Gary Anderson to be released.

Illston found Anderson in contempt of court on the first day of trial testimony when his lawyer informed her that he would not take the stand to answer questions about Bonds' steroid use.

It was the third time Anderson chose jail time over testimony. He was sent to prison for several weeks twice before when he refused to appear before a federal grand jury investigating Bonds.

The absence of the trainer's testimony hampered the government's case against Bonds, who is charged with lying under oath when he testified about his steroids use in 2003 before the grand jury that was investigating an alleged sports doping scandal involving Anderson of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative.

Bonds, 46, allegedly lied about knowingly taking performance-enhancing drugs and about being injected by anyone but his doctors.

The jury of eight women and four men are deciding Bonds' fate in a San Francisco federal courthouse less than two miles from the ballpark where Bonds broke Hank Aaron's major league home run record in August 2007.

The three perjury counts and one count of obstruction of justice could each carry a 10-year prison sentence upon conviction. A fourth perjury charge was dropped by prosecutors Wednesday.

A prosecutor argued Thursday that Bonds lied because he knew the truth about his steroids use would "tinge his accomplishments" and hurt his career.

"His secret was so powerful that he couldn't admit it, wouldn't admit it," Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeff Nedrow said in his closing arguments.

Bonds' defense lawyer, during his closing arguments Thursday, asked jurors to acquit him because of a technical oversight by prosecutors -- an argument the government quickly rebutted.

The judge's instructions to the jury say Bonds can found be found guilty only if his lies could have affected the grand jury's decisions and that Bonds knew it, defense lawyer Allen Ruby said.

But none of the 25 prosecution witnesses presented evidence about what decisions the grand jury made or what they might have made, Ruby said. "Who told us about the grand jury at all?"

The Internal Revenue Service agent who started the federal investigation into the distribution of performance-enhancing drugs testified that Bonds' false testimony affected his work, but Agent Jeff Novitzky was not part of the grand jury, Ruby said.

"I know that this is a little technical," Ruby said. "I don't apologize for that. Every word of the law matters."

The judge also instructed jurors to rely only what they heard from witnesses in the trial and not use their prior knowledge of the grand jury process, he said. "The government is trusting you to do what you are forbidden to do, and fill in the gaps," Ruby said.

Prosecutor Matthew Parrella, in his rebuttal, said Novitzky's investigation and the grand jury probe were "one and the same."

The jury can also read the indictments the grand jury issued in 2004 and the grand jury transcript in which "the issues are fleshed out," Parrella said.

Ruby told jurors that Bonds acknowledged to the grand jury that he used the substances known as "the clear and the cream," but at the time of his testimony, even investigators didn't know what was in them.

Bonds told the grand jury he thought Anderson was giving him flaxseed oil, Ruby said.

Nedrow, in his closing, said it was "implausible" that Bonds would take drugs "and really not know what they were."

A urine sample given by Bonds in the summer of 2003, just months before his grand jury testimony, tested positive for anabolic steroids, he said. The defense argued there was another sample taken weeks earlier that tested negative for the drugs.

Defense lawyer Cristina Arguedas, in her part of closing arguments, accused prosecutors of ignoring crimes by witnesses in exchange for their testimony against Bonds. "They will forgive it if that person will say something bad about Barry Bonds," Arguedas said.

Bonds' former girlfriend, Kimberly Bell, testified for the prosecution that she witnessed physical and emotional changes in Bonds that the government argued were indications of steroids use.

Bell testified during the trial that she had committed perjury when she told the same grand jury in 2003 that she had not noticed Bonds' shrunken testicles.

Bell also admitted she had committed mortgage fraud by lying on a home loan application, Arguedas said.

During court testimony last month, Bonds' childhood friend Steve Hoskins, who worked for a decade as his assistant, said he tried to persuade Bonds to stop using anabolic steroids in 2000 and 2003.

Bonds' defense lawyer argued that Hoskins' cooperation with the government was motivated by bitterness over Bonds firing him and by a desire for protection from prosecution for allegedly stealing money from Bonds.

Prosecutors played an audio recording that Hoskins secretly made in the San Francisco Giants locker room of a conversation with Anderson about the hazards of steroid usage.

Bonds' defense attorney suggested that Hoskins made the recording only after Bonds dismissed him in March 2003. Hoskins acknowledged that he leaked the details of the recording to investigative reporter Lance Williams, who included it in his book about the scandal, "Game of Shadows."

While he never witnessed Bonds being injected with anabolic steroids, Hoskins said he saw Bonds and Anderson emerge from a bedroom with a syringe during spring training in 2000.

Bonds complained to him that year that steroid injections "were making his butt sore," Hoskins said.

In his 21-year major league career, Bonds also set the record for most home runs in a single season in 2001, when he hit 73. He did not officially retire after he was indicted, but he never played another game.

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