More shipwreck survivors sue Carnival, Costa
MIAMI (Reuters) – Dozens of additional survivors of the Costa Concordia shipwreck off Italy have joined a Florida lawsuit that accuses the ship’s owners of gross negligence and fraud, and asks for at least $528 million in damages.
An amended lawsuit was filed on Tuesday in the state circuit court in Miami against Carnival Corp, which is incorporated in Panama and headquartered in Miami, and several of its subsidiaries, including Florida-based Costa Cruise Lines and Costa Crociere, which is based in Italy and operated the ill-fated ship.
Guantanamo mail screeners ordered to keep mum
MIAMI (Reuters) – Mail inspectors at the Guantanamo prison camp will be held in contempt of court if they disclose the contents of attorney-client mail without permission, the chief judge in the U.S. war crimes tribunals has ruled.
The ruling by the judge, Army Colonel Jame Pohl, aims to settle a dispute between U.S. military jailers at the Guantanamo Bay U.S. naval base in Cuba and the U.S. military and civilian lawyers defending Guantanamo prisoners on terrorism charges.
Republican enthusiasm gap is worry in battleground state
MIAMI (Reuters) – Republican voters gave presidential hopeful Mitt Romney a resounding victory in Florida but they turned out in lower numbers than in the previous primary in 2008 and were only lukewarm about their party’s candidates.
The number of Republicans who voted on Tuesday – 1.7 million – was down 14 percent from 2008, in a worry for the party in a swing state that will be crucial for the November election battle with President Barack Obama.
Make Repsol “bleed” if Cuban well leaks: lawmaker
MIAMI (Reuters) – Since the United States couldn’t stop Repsol from drilling for oil off Cuba’s coast, it should make the Spanish oil giant pay dearly for damages from any spill that threatens neighboring Florida, a congressional Republican said on Monday.
“We need to figure out what we can do to inflict maximum pain, maximum punishment, to bleed Repsol of whatever resources they may have if there’s a potential for a spill that would affect the U.S. coast,” Representative David Rivera, a Florida Republican, told a congressional subcommittee that oversees the U.S. Coast Guard.
Fading Gingrich attacks Romney in ad
MIAMI (Reuters) – Newt Gingrich struggled to regain momentum in the Republican presidential race on Friday as two new polls showed him falling behind rival Mitt Romney, who was seen as the winner of the final debate before the Florida primary.
The White House contenders courted Florida’s sizable Hispanic vote, many of them Cubans, with appearances on Friday at the Hispanic Leadership Network, where Romney received an unusually warm reception and the reaction to Gingrich was more sedate.
Fading Gingrich falls behind in polls, hits Romney in ad
MIAMI (Reuters) – Newt Gingrich struggled to regain momentum in the Republican presidential race on Friday as two new polls showed him falling behind rival Mitt Romney, who was seen as the winner of the final debate before the Florida primary.
The White House contenders courted Florida’s sizable Hispanic vote, many of them Cubans, with appearances on Friday at the Hispanic Leadership Network, where Romney received an unusually warm reception and the reaction to Gingrich was more sedate.
Fading Gingrich falls behind in polls
MIAMI (Reuters) – Newt Gingrich struggled to regain momentum in the Republican presidential race on Friday as two new polls showed him falling behind rival Mitt Romney, who was seen as the winner of the final debate before the Florida primary.
The White House contenders courted Florida’s sizable Hispanic vote, many of them Cubans, with appearances on Friday at the Hispanic Leadership Network, where Romney received an unusually warm reception and the reaction to Gingrich was more sedate.
Fading Gingrich behind in new poll, hits Romney in ad
MIAMI (Reuters) – Newt Gingrich struggled to regain momentum in the race for the Republican U.S. presidential nomination on Friday as another poll showed him falling behind his main rival Mitt Romney, who was seen as the winner of the final debate before the Florida primary.
The two men courted Florida’s sizable Hispanic vote, many of them Cubans, with appearances on Friday at the Hispanic Leadership Network where Romney received an unusually warm reception and the reaction to Gingrich was more sedate.
Al Qaeda-linked magazine delivered to Guantanamo
NAVAL BASE, Cuba (Reuters) – A copy of an al Qaeda-linked magazine was delivered to the Guantanamo detention camp for suspected terrorists, a military prosecutor revealed on Wednesday during a court discussion of mail security.
The camp commander, Rear Admiral David Woods, issued orders last month tightening the screening of mail sent by lawyers to their clients at the camp that holds 171 captives on the Guantanamo Bay U.S. naval base in Cuba. Woods testified in the Guantanamo war crimes court on Tuesday that the new rules were necessary to prevent contraband from entering the camp, but gave no specifics.
Guantanamo commander defends prison mail review
NAVAL BASE, Cuba (Reuters) – The commander of the Guantanamo detention camp testified on Tuesday that it was necessary for Pentagon contractors to review the confidential mail prisoners receive from their U.S. military lawyers in order to ensure it did not contain contraband.
Defense lawyers in the trial of alleged al Qaeda bomber Abd al Rahim al Nashiri said they had done nothing to earn that mistrust. They contend the order violates confidentiality rules and forces them to illegally disclose trial strategy, violating the defendants’ right to a fair trial.
