Nation/world digest 11/02/05

Looking to stifle inflation, Fed boosts interest rates

WASHINGTON -- Outgoing chairman Alan Greenspan and his Federal Reserve colleagues voted unanimously Tuesday to boost a key interest rate by a quarter-point -- the 12th such increase since June 2004, when the Fed's rate-raising campaign began. The rate that banks charge each other is now 4 percent, the highest in more than four years. And the Fed indicated further modest increases are likely in coming months to fend off inflation. Fed policy-makers suggested they are more concerned about the prospects of an inflation flare-up than the economy suffering a slowdown from the hurricanes that ravaged the Gulf Coast.

Judge in Tom DeLay conspiracy case removed

AUSTIN, Texas -- The judge in Rep. Tom DeLay's conspiracy case was removed at the congressman's request Tuesday because of his donations to Democratic candidates and causes. A new judge will be appointed to preside over the case, ruled a judge who came out of retirement to hear the dispute. DeLay was forced to step down as House majority leader after being charged with funneling corporate campaign contributions to Republican candidates for the Texas Legislature.

Report blames ex-leader for Canadian kickbacks

TORONTO -- An investigative report on a corruption scandal cleared the prime minister Tuesday of any wrongdoing but held his predecessor accountable for misspending tens of millions of dollars in public funds. There is no evidence that former prime minister Jean Chretien was personally aware of a kickbacks scheme orchestrated by Quebec businessmen, Justice John Gomery concluded in the report, but Chretien must bear political responsibility for a program he created that allowed senior members of his Liberal Party to funnel millions of dollars into their coffers.

Top court hears case on hallucinogenic tea

WASHINGTON -- The government seized their hallucinogenic tea six years ago, and these New Mexico churchgoers want it back. Members of the Brazil-based O Centro Espirita Beneficiente Uniao do Vegetal took their religious freedom case to the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday. Their herbal hoasca brew -- which contains an illegal drug known as DMT -- is used in communion. The Bush administration wants to ban the tea, calling it illegal and potentially dangerous. New Chief Justice John Roberts asked tough questions of both sides, and suggested the administration was demanding too much.

Rate commission OKs 2-cent postage increase

WASHINGTON -- A 2-cent boost in the price of a postage stamp was approved Tuesday by the independent Postal Rate Commission. Under the recommendation, which now goes to the Postal Service's Board of Governors for final action, the cost of a first-class stamp will go from 37 cents to 39 cents. The Postal Service requested the increase last April. It is expected to go into effect in January.

Royals tour America; Americans uninterested

NEW YORK -- Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla, began a weeklong tour of the United States on Tuesday, but the British press predicted it will be uninteresting to Americans. "The trip has been dismissed as a 'royal bore' by Americans," The Daily Mail said Tuesday, quoting a USA Today headline. A USA Today/ CNN/Gallup Poll found 59 percent of respondents were "not at all interested" in the visit.

French police jail 13 in suburban Paris riots

PARIS -- Tension mounted Tuesday in the troubled suburbs of Paris, after angry youths torched cars, garbage bins and even a primary school. Officials in Paris and the northeastern suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois, where the accidental deaths of two teenagers triggered the riots that began Thursday, worked to prevent a sixth night of violence. The two teenagers were electrocuted in a power substation where they hid to escape police they thought were chasing them. Officials said police were not pursuing the boys, aged 15 and 17.

Court-martial proposed for soldier in 'fragging' case

CAMP ARIFJAN, Kuwait -- A U.S. soldier could face the death penalty after an Army probe recommended Tuesday he be court-martialed in the Iraq war's first case of alleged "fragging," slang for the murder of superior officers. Staff Sgt. Alberto B. Martinez of Troy, N.Y., had a "personal vendetta" against one of two higher-ranked officers who died in an explosion June 7, military investigator Col. Patrick Reinert said at the end of a two-day hearing in Kuwait. Lt. Gen. John Vines will decide whether there will be a court-martial and where it would be held.

-- From wire reports