INTERNATIONAL NEWS in brief

Administration might prefer to skip a Snowden trial

WASHINGTON (AP):

Should Edward Snowden ever return to the United States, he would face criminal charges for leaking information about National Security Agency surveillance programmes.

But legal experts say a trial could expose more classified information as his lawyers try to build a case in an open court that the operations he exposed were illegal.

A jury trial could be awkward for the Obama administration if the jurors believe Snowden is a whistle-blower who exposed government overreach. Snowden surely would try to turn the tables on the government, arguing that its right to keep information secret does not outweigh his constitutional right to speak out.

"He would no doubt bring First Amendment defences to what he did, emphasising the public interest in his disclosures and the democratic values that he served," said David Pozen, a Columbia Law School professor and a former legal adviser at the State Department. "There's been no case quite like it."

Car bomb kills 2 in southern Beirut

BEIRUT (AP):

A car bomb ripped through a Shiite neighbourhood in southern Beirut on Tuesday, killing at least two people and setting plumes of smoke over the area in the latest attack targeting supporters of the militant Hezbollah group in Lebanon.

A series of attacks have hit Lebanon recently as Syria's civil war spills over into its smaller neighbour, targeting the country's Sunni and Shiite communities. It has further stoked sectarian tensions that are already running high as each Lebanese community lines up with its brethren in Syria on opposing sides of the war.

Monsignor on trial for smuggling accused of money-laundering

VATICAN CITY (AP):

A Vatican monsignor already on trial for allegedly plotting to smuggle €20 million (US$26 million) from Switzerland to Italy was ordered arrested in a separate case on Tuesday for allegedly using his Vatican bank accounts to launder money.

The financial police in the southern city of Salerno said Monsignor Nunzio Scarano's accounts had been used to transfer millions of euros (US dollars) in fictitious donations from offshore companies. Police said millions have been seized and that other arrest warrants were issued.

Scarano's lawyer, Silverio Sica, said his client merely took donations from people he thought were acting in good faith to fund a home for the terminally ill. He conceded that the money ended up being used to pay off Scarano's mortgage, however.

Police 'like' wanted US suspect's Facebook post

FREELAND, Pennsylvania (AP):

Police in one Pennsylvania town really 'liked' this Facebook post.

The Times Leader (Wilkes-Barre) reports officers arrested 35-year-old Anthony Lescowitch less than two hours after he shared a wanted photo of himself and taunted police for not being able to find him.

Police in Freeland say Lescowitch shared the wanted bulletin minutes after they posted it on the department Facebook page Monday night. He was being sought on assault charges.

An officer pretending to be an attractive woman then messaged Lescowitch. Police say Lescowitch refused the offer of a drink, but eventually agreed to meet for a cigarette, and was arrested at the agreed-upon location.

Lescowitch remained in jail Tuesday. Court records do not list a defence attorney for him.

Sister echoes apology of man held in North Korea

SEATTLE (AP):

The sister of an American detained for more than a year in North Korea echoed her brother's apology to the nation for crimes he committed and his plea to the US government to ramp up efforts to secure his release.

In a statement released Monday after Kenneth Bae gave a brief news conference in North Korea, Terri Chung of Edmonds, Washington, said, "We understand that Kenneth has been convicted of crimes under DPRK laws. Our family sincerely apologises on Kenneth's behalf."

Chung's statement was a change in tone from previous times she's spoken of her brother in which she said he did nothing wrong and was legally working in North Korea as a tour operator.

Kim Jin Moo, a North Korea expert at the South Korean state-run Korea Institute for Defense Analyses in Seoul, said Bae's apology should be viewed in the context of the complex relationship between North Korea and the United States.